Dark Rebirth
by Forsaken Beast
Summary: The king of Ghosts has returned, threatening to crush his eneimes before his awesome might. There is only one being in existance that can stop the vicious tyrant and his reign of terror...too bad he's only sixteen. Takes place sometime after Urban Jungle.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This will be my first published fan fiction. Constructive criticism is appreciated and reviews are adored. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or anything related to it.**

**Prologue:**

Pariah's Keep. A dark and desolate realm of suffering and horrors, as remembered by the older ghosts of the Ghost Zone, that had once been a shining example of hope. So many had lost their lives due to, what could only be described as, Pariah's madness despite the brief but violent battles that actually took place within the rotting walls and upon the ecto-plasmic blood-stained grounds surrounding it. The older ghosts liked to think of it as a reminder of the idea that power corrupts, but those that were closest to Pariah before the events that would be later forgotten in history knew of a different reason. Not that they were willing to share it with the rest of the ghost community for fear of sympathy for the ghostly tyrant that had forced the proud Ghost Zone and its citizens to its knees.

It was here, upon the battle-scarred grounds, that the feared ghost king had declared his stake upon all of Amity Park, considered a gateway into the human realm by even the weakest of specters. It was here that ghosts and humans had worked with one another in order to engage the ghoulish army of the seemingly all-powerful Pariah Dark, though the humans remained ignorant of this fact at large. It was also here that the legendary Pariah Dark was defeated by a mere fourteen-year-old child and locked away within the Coffin of Forever Sleep once more in the hopes that peace would enter the lands once the Ghost King was sealed once more within his small prision.

With the Crown of Fire taken and the Skeleton Key missing, there was not a single way to be freed from the coffin in which the ghost king slumbered and let his rage boil. His personal knight had vanished, much to his displeasure, and no other servant was able to fully function in the absence of their ghostly master. No…that wasn't quite right, now that he thought about it in a brief moment of clarity. There were exactly four servants of his that were still capable of their sentience without their master, a feat that few of his servants could attest to. He had sent them away in secret for his plans of vengeance against those whom had sealed him for the first time, knowing that there was little reason for them to fail in the tasks that he had assigned him. Where could they be though?

Were his faithful servants not aware that their lord and master had been sealed away once more? Had his vassals abandoned him like so many others had in the past? The mere memory of the betrayals over the millennia brought forth a blinding rage and a deep sadness to his soul. No! The four servants were blindly loyal to him, almost fanatically so. Then again, it was rather obvious why they were so loyal to him as he had breathed life into them from his very own essence, granting them abilities and knowledge to rival that of the demi-gods of old.

Though the Coffin of Forever Sleep did put Pariah Dark into a deep slumber so that he could not physically break out of the confines of the legendary item, it did not shut down his powerful mind, the very reason that so many assassination attempts and threats against his well-being had failed before! Though he was only equipped with his wits, that was really all he needed in order to be freed of the accursed coffin.

Though he did speak nor whisper, Pariah began to pour in as much energy as he could in order to let out a mental roar out through the eerie vastness of the Ghost Zone to each and every last one of his most loyal servants that had spread out far and wide across the vast space of the Zone.

In the farthest corners of the Ghost Zone, four figures, each mounted upon a fiery steed of dark energy, and separated by an almost infinite amount of space, paused in their actions. Though so far away from one another, they each were connected by their minds and soon raised their heads one-by one in the direction the mental roar had erupted from. After a moment of silence, each one uttered a single word that barely reached their ears. "Master…." they breathed out in awe and reverence at the god-like ghost that had given life to them.

"My servants!" Pariah Dark bellowed out, his mind unable to conceal the sense of triumph he held as he communicated with the four servants all at once, something that his servants paid no mind to as their Master's state of mind was not something that concerned them. After all, their Master was God in their eyes and God was infallible no matter how he felt at the time.

"Bring me the Skeleton Key and my Crown of Fire! Free your Master from this infernal coffin and slaughter any fool whom would dare stand in your path! Go!" Pariah commanded. "Yes, my master." each one of the servants murmured one by one before they took off on their demonic steeds.

Though their speeds seemed inefficient in their eyes, to any passerby they roared across the vastness of the Ghost Zone as a black blur of sheer speed beyond that of any other ghost that was ever known before. The weaker ghosts that were in their path were unfortunate as they were torn through with little to no effort while the four ghosts traversed the Ghost Zone. The stronger ghosts were more fortunate as they instinctively sensed the presence of the oncoming ghosts and dived out of the way to avoid the four demonic steeds. Sadly, the ghosts were not fast enough to avoid losing a limb or two to the marauding servants of Pariah Dark.

The four ghosts shrouded in their darkness did not speak of their destination, but moved in unison in one specific direction. Not once did they think of pausing in their journey and not once did the thought of consulting an outsider for directions cross their minds. In the distance, one could only see the glowing and swirling vortex of a mechanical archway with the word "Fenton" emblazoned on top. Though they knew of other portals, many of which were doubtlessly closer to the items in which their Master sought, the four ghosts felt oddly compelled to go through the specific Ghost Portal.

Far from where any of the servants of Pariah Dark was, in the very heart of the Ghost Zone, an ancient ghost with a deep, royal purple cloak and a massive staff with an ornamental clock on one end of it paused for a mere moment, as if something had taken him by surprise for the first time in many millennia, a feat that not even the Master of Time could recall with the same clarity he had now. The moment passed quickly, however, as the ghost changed his form from that of an elderly, but wise man into that of a small and mischievous child with a smirk of amusement as if he knew a secret and wasn't willing to share with any adults.

"Well now," the young Clockwork said as he turned once more to his massive viewing screen, "it seems as if my time is up, a pity. The question is, Daniel, is your time up as well?" he asked more to himself than anyone else as he smiled mysteriously to the large screen before him.

On the viewing screen, a lone, lean teen with snow-white hair and glowing green eyes flew through the skies of Amity Park, a free smile adorning his lips as countless people below him waved up to him in awe. To some, he was a hero that was granted upon them by the heavens, protecting them from the horrors that the other ghosts could potentially bring upon them if left unchecked. To others, he was a blight upon all of society that brought pain and suffering with the reckless actions he engaged upon daily with the other spectral annoyances. To the ones that knew him the most, he was simply Danny.

The teen seemed to have not a care in the world as his ghostly body sailed through the blue skies without worry or fear for the first time in a long time while the Ghost Master of Time watched him, sparing him an almost pitying glance to his young charge that was ignorant of the oncoming dangers that would soon present themselves to him.

Turning his back on the viewing screen once more, Clockwork began to prepare for the future that would come to him. As it always did.

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**Author's Notes:**

**So how was the prolouge? Short, compared to the oncomming chapters, but I'm happy to hear what you think, be it good or bad. Read and Review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright! I've finally figured out most of the things that I'll need to for . As you can see, the actual chapters are much longer than that of the prologue, but then again the prologue was merely a test to see if I could actually upload the story onto the site. The future chapters will be roughly as long as this. Also, I'm looking for a Beta to read some of these stories, but I am uncertain how a Beta works online.**

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**Chapter 1**

Danny Fenton let out a wistful sigh in content as he sat next to his two best friends, Tucker Foley and Samantha 'Sam' Manson.

The former of the two friends had managed to evolve from a lanky, goofy, technophile to a more muscled, goofy, technophile. It was mainly from two major constants in Tucker's life: the first, and perhaps his most prominent, constant was the unending ghost hunting with his friends while the second, but equally important constant if you asked him, was his diet of only meat and meat-like products. With the exercise he was doing, his body was finally storing away the dormant protein in his body as muscle instead of simply letting his frightening metabolism strip it away. With his new physique, the ladies of Casper High did not simply shoot him down the moment he even approached them. Now, they gave him exactly a record maximum of three minutes before the victim of Tucker's flirting would be quite willing to tear out his eyes if he did not stop talking. "You have to take baby steps," Tucker simply told his two friends with a grin before proceeding to try and win a date with the next young woman that drew near.

One thing that had developed alongside his body was his technological prowess. Over the years there had been cases where Team Phantom, as they joking referred to themselves as, had needed to enter a building or complex in order to capture a rogue ghost. Tucker, latest PDA in hand, could disable each and every security system they could come across. Sadly, that was the easy part. The hard part was disabling the systems without the police, private security companies, or even the Feds (as the trio have had to break into the Guys in White's headquarters once or twice for various reasons) without being detected. They had come by a few close shaves, but due to sheer luck or skill, they had all managed to side-step being arrested and, in Danny's case, painfully experimented on or exterminated under the Ecto-Control Act.

Thankfully, Tucker was not the only one that had improved with age. With the two years of ghost fighting, came two years of discovering that his ghost powers were becoming increasingly stronger. Within those two years, after hacking into the Guys in White's, or GIW for short, computer database, Team Phantom had discovered how much more potent his powers had become. When he first received his powers, Danny was classified as a Class 5 Ecto-Entity, but now, he had reached the threshold of a class far beyond that of a Class 5. To date, Danny was now a Class 7.8 Ecto-Entity. With the abilities of flight, intangibility, invisibility, ecto-rays, ecto-shielding, superhuman strength, cryo-kinetic (ice) powers, and his most powerful ability, the Ghostly Wail, Danny was just shy of arch-enemy's level, Vlad 'Plasmius' a.k.a. 'The Wisconsin Ghost' Masters, of a Class 8 ecto-entity. Lately Danny had also been possibly showing signs of new powers, but none of the three could be completely certain of it due to the large unknowns of being a half-ghost. There was also something else that came with Danny's increasing ghostly powers.

Whereas Tucker was fit, Danny body was that of an athelte's. Though his body build was no where near the likes of Dash Baxter, hulking captain of too many teams to count for Casper High, Danny's body build centered around the idea of being able to do numerous things efficently rather than being an angry wall of meat that was meant to keep other equally angered meat-walls at bay. Within the two years of constant ghost hunting with increasingly more powerful adversaries that could last until the wee hours of the morning, Danny had resolved himself as the protector of Amity Park. With his resolution, came an intense need to not only hone his ghost powers, but his physical body as well. Though most of his body was hidden beneath his loose-fitting and baggy clothing, underneath lay a set of solid muscles that had a large majority of Casper's female population eyeing him like a piece of meat, something that the jocks of the school hated with a passion. After all, high school locker rooms were the farthest thing from a place one could keep secrets and the moment one pair of wandering eyes caught sight of the 'geek's' new muscles, rumors erupted through the school like wildfire. Their explanation as the Danny's new fitness was always joked about that he had to be fitter to run away from the ghosts and bullies that chased after him.

Chuckling at a joke that Tucker had made at the expense of a teacher they shared, Danny then looked over to the latter of the two of his friends with a warm smile.

While Tucker and Danny had evolved, Sam had, for lack of a better word, grown. While still an individualist and an Ultra Recyclo-Vegatarian, Sam had toned down her need to impress her views upon others. Now, not only was she an unique, intelligent, and very much vegan individual, but she was also more graceful, dangerous and beautiful than a mere two years ago.

Blinking, Danny, shook the last of his thoughts out of his heads. Beautiful? Where in the world had that come from? Sam was his best friend, for crying out loud! Danny could not think of his friend in such a manner, those thoughts would lead to…ideas that he was still trying to work through as a healthy, male, teenager. Besides, if he even said that word aloud about Sam, and she overheard it, she would go into a long rant about how 'beauty is only skin deep and there is more to a woman than just her face and, Danny, my eyes are up here'. Shuddering, Danny did not want to have to go through that lecture again. Though he cared for Sam in a completely friendly way, he could swear that Sam could rip apart a ghost molecule-by-molecule, as his parents loved to say to him over and over again, by merely lecturing said ghost on their morals. Goodness knows how often he had wound up on the wrong end of Sam's rants.

Granted, Sam was changing her look a little lately so Danny could not be completely to blame for those thoughts. Before, while Sam used to have her hair barely above shoulder-length and have a bit in a small ponytail that rested by the back her head, she had let it grow out, much to Danny's delight, far enough so that her hair would rest just above her back, much like she used to wear it when they were kids. There were times when Danny had to stop himself from running his fingers along her hair when the two would be close to one another. Sam also seemed to be growing more attached to black, form-fitting jeans and shirts that, while far from provocative, made Sam's gender all the clearer to the male population of Casper High. Danny lost count of the number of times guys had tried to go up to her to talk to her only to have them scared away by a fierce glare Danny sent them that promised a painful demise if they did not leave the vicinity of Sam's space immediately. Somehow, their nickname of 'Lovebirds' became more evident as the days went by. They were not lovebirds for crying out loud!

Nodding to what Sam said about the latest in her long line of protests against animal cruelty, Danny cringed as he heard a familiar cry across the lunch room. "Hey, Fen-toast!" Dash Baxter called out with a grin as he came up to the trio. Truthfully, Dash and the rest of the so-called A-List had not changed as severely as Team Phantom had. More facial hair for the guys and more boyfriends for Paulina were the only evident changes as far as Danny could see, but truthfully he had lost the intrest in being popular long ago as his reputation had cemented his place in school. While it was not amongst the popular kids, at least he could confidently say that nearly two-thirds of the school knew who he was and got along with him.

"Great, I'm still his favorite." Danny groaned out in annoyance more than misery before he turned to face his antagonist. "What do you want now, Dash? I can't even get a bit of peace during lunch because of you." Danny accused as he merely turned to the bully, undaunted by Dash's mass.

Dash grunted slight, offended that the loser before him tried to talk down to him! The star player of Casper High! "I got a D in the science test today, and guess what the means, Fen-turd?" Dash asked menacingly as he cracked his knuckles in hopes of getting his point across.

"That you're finally going to get some testing to prove that you have that mental disability that I always knew you had?" Danny quipped back without missing a beat and a smirk upon his face.

Dash stood stunned for a few moments, trying to puzzle out if Danny had truly had said what he had just heard. Contorting his face into rage, Dash lunged at Danny with murder in his eyes. "Feeeeeennnntooooon!" Dash bellowed as he barreled towards Danny as Danny ducked out of the way with ease. Not expecting for Danny to have gotten out of his way, Dash soon wound up falling face first into Danny's Sloppy Joe, courtesy of Sam's right combat boot which had 'accidentally' reached out in front of Dash's legs.

The cafeteria soon rang out in laughter at Dash's misfortune, as most had fallen victim to the bully at one time or another. "How to Eat Fried Worms! What in the name of all that is academic is going on in here?" the overweight and bald vice-principal, Lancer, demanded as he busted into the cafeteria.

No one spoke, but none needed to as Lancer quickly scanned the room and soon found the unfortunate Dash getting up with the cafeteria's meat-like substance coating his face.

Pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, Lancer immediately pieced together what had happened. "Where is Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked in exasperation.

"Right here, Mr. Lancer." Danny said as he came forward, a smirk on his face as he did not regret what had just happened in the least.

"Mr. Fenton, would you be so kind as to enlighten me how Mr. Baxter is covered in the cafeteria's lunch menu?" Lancer asked, giving Danny a critical eye much to the quarterback's embarrassment. "Oh, I didn't get the full story, but-" Danny's sentence was soon cut off as a blue mist escaped his mouth, causing to his eyes to widen in surprise. "Oh no." he said quietly as he turned to see where his worries were originating from.

Before Lancer could inquire as to what Danny was looking for, it soon became evident as one of his young charges cried out the one word that was equivalent to "He's got a gun!" in Casper High.

"Ghost!" a student cried out in pure terror after one of the walls of the cafeteria seemed to explode without warning. Students and faculty members alike soon began to scramble for the nearest exits at the sudden explosion, having done so many times before in the past two years. While ghosts were a common occurrence in Amity Park, they were still just as dangerous as earthquakes in Los Angeles or tornadoes in Kansas. In fact, the only ones that weren't leaving the area in haste were Sam and Tucker, but then again, they knew what was about to happen.

Snapping out of his stupor, Danny quickly slipped away from Lancer, who was fleeing along with any other sane person in the room, to dive underneath the nearest cafeteria table. Certain that none of his peers could see him as they fled for the nearest exit, Danny grinned as he let out his familiar battle cry.

"Goin' ghost!" Danny shouted as a white ring of light began to intersect with his body before it divided into two, one running up his body while the other ran down his body. Slowly, Danny began his transformation from the unpopular Fenton into the sought-after and hated Phantom while the rings ran up and down his body. His transformation complete in a matter of seconds, Danny turned intangible and phased through the table before floating over the table and turning tangible once more in order to face the incoming foe.

Seeing the ghost before him enter through the hole in the wall he had just created, Danny smirked as he began to power up an ecto-blast in each hand. "Skulker, don't you ever get tired of losing to me?" Danny asked cockily as he fired out a ray at the mechanized ghost hunter.

Veering quickly to the right, Skulker glared at his young prey while his green, flaming Mohawk flared briefly in indignation. "Careful, ghost-child. Pride always comes before the fall." Skulker retorted as he deployed an ecto-shuriken launcher from his wrist and began to fire out several of the deadly blades at the halfa.

Raising a shield from his ecto-energy, Danny blocked the incoming shuriken with practiced ease. "Please, this coming from the 'Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter'? You're the last ghost that should lecture me on pride, next to Plasmius." Danny shot back as he lowered his shield as he began to fire a pair of cryo-kinetic beams from his eyes at the shuriken launcher.

Caught off guard by the ice powers yet again, Skulker was forced to eject the launcher from his suit lest the freezing spread further than just merely the launcher. "You insolent whelp!" Skulker cried out before he began to deploy a set of missile launchers from his shoulders.

Danny knew the power of Skulker's missiles first-hand from battles with the ghost hunter in the past. He also knew that Sam, Tucker and many other students had not left the area to get cleared of the dangerous weapon's radius and would be seriously injured or even die if any one of the missles that Skulker had revealed went off. Feeling an odd surge of power at the thought, Danny merely disregarded the rush as he assumed it to be adrenaline coursing through him at the moment.

Just as the ghost hunter was about to fire, Danny shot up to Skulker and did something that Skulker least expected the halfa to do. Danny quickly grasped both sides of the helm of Skulker's battle suit and tore it off of the suit along with the puny ghost controller that inhabited the mechanical ecto-suit. With the lack of a host, the suit immediately began to power down before slumping onto the floor before the ghosts.

As the miniscule ghost struggled in Danny's grasp, shouting out various threats upon the young ghost-child's life while also promising that Danny's pelt would lay within his domain one day, Danny gave off an amused smirk as Tucker tossed the Fenton Thermos to Danny. Catching the thermos with practiced ease, Danny uncapped the container and sucked both the suit and Skulker into it before sealing the container. "Way too easy, and with only one wall destroyed this time too! That's got to be a new record for this school!" Danny declared as he looked about the cafeteria and changing back into Danny Fenton once he was sure that there was nobody else besides his two friends.

Once Danny had changed back into his human form, Sam and Tucker began to approach him slowly. "Dude, you just tore off Skulker's head. Don't you think that was just a little bit extreme?" Tucker asked as he eyed his friend warily.

"Please, that idiot was asking for the punishment the moment he scared the crap out of half of Casper High." Danny frowned at his friends. Why were they so concerned about how he had beaten Skulker? He had done so in a matter of moments and without anyone getting hurt. Shouldn't they have been proud of him.

Beginning to walk out of the battle-worn cafeteria, Sam soon spoke up. "As much as it pains me to say it, and it really does, Tucker's right Danny." Sam said much to their surprise.

"He is?" "I am?" both Danny and Tucker said respectively at once.

Danny, what you did back there isn't something we've seen you do normally. Usually you just go in, punch, kick, use a bunch of your other powers until the ghost is beaten enough and then you use the Thermos. What you did to Skulker…that seemed like something….._he_ would do." Sam pointed out.

Danny grew silently angered that his friends were insinuating that he was becoming anything like _him_, Dark Danny_. _Back during freshman year, Danny had run across himself from an alternate timeline. His ghost half had fused with Vlad's ghost half and the product was a twisted, sadistic entity that was as powerful as he was evil. Earth and the Ghost Zone alike were on their knees before the power that he possessed. The worst part was that when Dark Danny had discovered of a way back into the past, he had tried to kill Danny's friends and family.

"What was I supposed to do then? You saw the missiles, right? IF I had let him fire even one of those things, then it would have been good-bye Casper and anyone else that was in it. Including the both of you." Danny pointed out angrily as he then stormed out of the school.

Stunned at Danny's angry, yet true, point, Sam and Tucker stood dazed in place, not daring to speak at the fact that they had just assumed the worst for even a moment. "Tucker…I think we messed up badly." Sam said eventually once she found her voice. Nodding dumbly, the two immediately tried to chase after their friend, but to their disappointment, he had flown away.

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**A/N: Annnnnnnd another chapter done! Looks like Sam and Tucker have managed to make the ghost kid angry, but are their fears well-founded? Read, Review and have fun! Like I said before, I'm looking for a Beta online. I've got someone in real life looking over my stories, but two heads and all that. Later!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alright, here's a treat for all of you out there. Because I have finals coming up, it means I'll have less time to write. Now, I may have the next few chapters written out already, but I have to revise some parts of them heavily before I can post it on . So without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter 2**

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Danny was thankful no one was home at the moment as the last thing he needed was his mom to politely press Danny for answers about what was wrong and for his dad to blather on about his latest invention. His sister was worse than his mom about his well-being to the point where some people would call it an obsession, but thankfully she was off to college, filling out her General Education requirements before going for her major in psychology.

Giving out an exhausted sigh, Danny dropped his things near the couch in the living room and proceeded to lay down upon the couch. Eyeing his backpack with barely contained contempt, he knew he should at least start on his homework since he wouldn't have time to do it later due to his ghost hunting, but the day's events had robbed him of the will to do it. It was too bad that he had already captured Skulker as he felt the need to beat something senseless.

Sitting up in an instant, he remembered that he still had Skulker lodged away in the Fenton Thermos. Cursing mentally, Danny reached into his backpack and pulled out the container before he trudged down to the basement.

He entering the basement/lab, Danny paused in front of the very device that gave him his ghostly powers. The Fenton Ghost Portal had started it all for him. Before he had accidentally turned it on, he was just a normal teen with both Sam and Tucker at his side. Now he was a freaky, but powerful, half ghost/human that struggled to be the good-guy when so many people wanted him to be the bad guy. "_Including Sam and Tuck now_." Danny thought bitterly to himself, his grip squeezing the container in his hands.

Shaking off the depressing thoughts with a sigh of discontent, Danny opened up the ghost portal and loaded the thermos into a compartment that his parents had installed so that the ghosts would be forced from the Thermos and back into the Ghost Zone. It took a few moments for the Thermos to successfully force Skulker into the Ghost Zone once more, but it eventually did so without fail, unlike so many other of his parents inventions which had a nasty habit of blowing up in the user's face....quite litterally if the user wasn't careful with the device they were using.

"Well that's over with." Danny said aloud to himself as he began to go over to the genetic lock to seal the portal once more, another one of the inventions that had a severe glitch of randomly opening the portal's doors. His parents had tried fixing it many times in the past, but had yet to make it so that the doors would stay shut unless opened by either the genetic lock nearby, or by the door opener that was equiped standard in the Specter Speeder.

Before Danny could activate the lock, however, a massive earthquake began, knocking Danny onto his rear. "What's going on?" Danny wondered with evident apprehension before a familiar blue mist escaped his lips, indicating a ghost was near. Before he could even wonder what ghost could it be this time, a blast of ectoplasmic energy erupted from the portal.

Lunging to the side on honed instinct, something that had saved his hide many times during ghosts battles in both the past and future, Danny managed to dodge the blast before he took cover next to a work desk nearby, hiding himself to gain at least one advantage over the possible foe. Waiting for a few moments, Danny began to think that it was just a fluke caused by the discharge of excess energy. Unfortunately for Danny, no such fluke could happen in his life as the earthquake began to fade as quickly as it had arrived just as four ghosts riding upon their four ghostly, fiery steeds emerged from the portal one-by-one. Soon, the four horsemen began to form a line that was side-by-side as if they had spent an eternity in the formation which they now took.

On the far right, a heavily armored horsemen sat upon his equally frightening steed. The reigns in his hands seemed to be mere shoelaces in comparison to his massive and thick hands that fit his equally muscled body. The only part of his body that was truly visible were the hate-filled red orbs that were his eyes and his mane of fiery red hair that went down to the small of his back. Strapped to his side neatly was a medieval flail in the shaped of a skull with several spikes protruding from it. It could have been the lighting, but Danny could swear that the weapon was breathing like a living person.

The next horseman to the left was actually a woman. Nowhere near as armored as her fiery companion, her armor consisted of a breast plate, a pair of grieves and a pair of gauntlets that went well with the leather battle dress that she wore. If not for the fact that she was a ghost, Danny would have found her quite beautiful and voluptuous…..until she stepped into the flourescent lighting that was left after the earthquake had shaken most of the light fixtures out of place. Trying not to gasp in disgust, the woman's very ghostly 'skin' seemed as if it were rotting off of her. Some parts of her organs seemed to be almost visible and one of her eyeballs were barely in its socket. Her sleek green locks of hair were now left in dry clumps, barely there at all upon her head. A pair of long daggers rested on her sides, each of them dripping a greenish liquid from the tips that, when making contact with any object in the real world, caused a quick acid-like reaction that ate away at the area it had made contact with instantly.

The horseman on the far left was far different from his companions. The ghost looked as if the slightest breeze would knock him over as he was as thin as a rail and many of his ribs were showing from underneath his ghostly 'skin'. His clothing consisted that of a pair of gauntlets, loose silk pants and leather boots. It was his eyes that gave away the image of a frail man though. While the horseman on the far right's eyes were hate-filled, this horseman's eyes bore an unending rage for all but his comrades, though there was still some kind of an emotion there every time his eyes swept over his female companion. Whether it was a good or bad emotion was a mystery to Dannny. Even the smallest lab rat that crossed his gaze was glared at without restraint. On the horseman's hip lay a flexible whip with thorns that decorated the majority of the weapon save for the handle, though the handle did not look all too pleasant to touch as the leather bindings were frayed and would quite possibly rip up the user's hands. Curiously, the thin ghost's hands were unblemished if not for the bones that showed through his 'skin'.

The final horseman was the one that filled Danny with apprehension. Unlike his companions, he was neither grotesque nor did he have an extreme body-build. In fact, his body was similar to that of a skeletal ghost he had seen a few times in the past, though the horseman's billowing cloak with a clasp adorned with the emblem of a crown of fire seperated this skeletal ghosts from the many others that Danny had seen in the past. Upon his back was a massive scythe that was easily seven feet in length and had the crescent blades on opposite sides of the same end of the weapon. All in all, the ghost seemed like a stereo-typical personification of Death. Normally, something so cheesy would make Danny scoff at the absurdity and possibly crack a joke about how much he was 'dying' to meet the skeletal ghost, but the ghost had an air about him that made Danny almost want to freeze in place or flee in terror. Thankfully Danny was stronger than to simply give into such urges and firmly stayed in place, surveying the potential foes. The other horsemen seemed to follow the lead of the final ghost without being urged to, giving Danny the impression that the skeletal-ghost was their leader.

Snapping out of his examination of his potential foes, Danny could hear them begin to speak. "Come, my comrades. Let us lay waste to the fools of this pitiful world!" the one of the far right boomed out.

"Nay. The master gave us direct orders to retrieve his belongings, and we shall not fail him for your petty grievances with these pathetic mortals." the skinny horseman wheezed hatefully, though the malice was not directed to the armored ghost, but instead at everything other than his heavily armored companion.

Hearing their words, Danny knew that it was now or never. Changing into Phantom once more, though this time silently, Danny leapt out of his hiding place and fired out his ecto-blasts at the horsemen only to have the thin horseman step forward and hold out his hands much to Danny's surprise. What surprised the halfa further was the fact that the horseman literally absorbed the blasts with apparent ease.

"Insolent whelp! How dare you stand in the way of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse! Stand aside or be struck down by thy might!" the heavily armored demanded as he began to pull out his flail with practiced ease. The ghosts words seemed to not rattle the halfa as he intended. Instead, the ghost boy seemed to be on the verge of saying something, but was cut off by the female horseman.

"Nay, War. We have other matters to attend to at the moment. Pay this child no mind until we procure our Lord's artifacts." the rotting woman told her fierce companion in a silky voice that hardly matched her current look at all while she also gave a flirtatious, rotting smile that made Danny want to gag at the sight of the gnarled teeth the woman displayed.

Calming down only slightly, War nodded before all four horsemen went intangible and began to fly out of Fenton Works. Knowing that the four ghosts were not in the human world for benevolent purposes, Danny became intangible as well and began to pursue the ghosts as fast as he could.

Eventually catching up to the ghosts, Danny gave a devil-may-care smile while he flew beside the thin horsemen on the far right. "You know, I'm pretty sure that none of you are licensed to ride those things." Danny informed them, pointing to their fiery horses that they rode. "Or cause fear in the public below." he then added, giving the panicing members of Amity Park a brief glance.

Bellow all five ghosts, the citizens were in an almost frenzied state of panic at the appearance of them all, especially the more religious member of Amity Park. They seemed so small from so high up to Danny and forgot for a moment of the ghosts beside him. His train of thought was soon interrupted as the thin horseman grasped him by his throat and began to squeeze surprisingly with a strong grip that Danny would have thought impossible for such a frail-looking being.

Though Danny did not need to breathe as he was in his ghostly form and, by proxy, lacked the organs necessary to do such a task, it was not the fact that his windpipe was currently being crushed that cause so much discomfort. The pain he felt seemed to come from inside of his ghostly body as he could practically feel his ghostly energy being forcibly pulled from within into the ghost before him. With Danny's strength fading fast, he desperately fired out the twin rays of his ice powers from his eyes at his opponent.

Undaunted by his captive's abilities, the thin horseman began to squeeze harder upon his victim's throat as the ice formed over his body only to quickly evaporate off of his skin. Smashing the young halfa into the side of the nearest building as he and his fellow horseman rode, his eyes seemed to light aflame with unbridled hatred as the thing ghost continued to strangle the halfa without restraint. The thin horseman grew increasingly more violent as he began to slam the young halfa into buildings, billboards and even a plane at one point causing the majority of the items to dent or break off partially as Danny was slammed into them at high or equal speeds.

The young ghost child could feel his consciousness slipping away quickly, but knew that he could not pass out now. Passing out was equivalent to death for him and Danny did not want to test the theory if he could actually die since he was technically half dead in the first place. "_I need to escape. I need to get out of here. I just wish….I just wanted to go to the Nasty Burger with Sam and Tuck. I never wanted to fight with them._" he thought, remembering his ban on wishing after meeting Desiree for the first time in a few months, as his powers were dangerously close to giving way completely. His thoughts continued to linger upon the fast food establishment as the horseman seemed to be almost content he was about to end the young ghost-child's afterlife.

With little to no warning, one second Danny was firmly in the horseman's grasp, his life fading quickly, the next he simply vanished. Completely surprised the horseman that had held Danny's life in his hands halted his steed as he looked around for the insolent child that had dared to not die in the manner which the thin ghost had chosen for him.

"Famine." the skeletal horseman called out to him, his voice deep and seemed to hold a slight trace of annoyance at his comrade. "The child is unimportant. Our master awaits our success."

Snapping back to the matter at hand, Famine merely nodded as he urged his steed on once more, focusing on riding once more to where the artifacts lay.

Far from the horsemen, beside the back alley of Amity's famous Nasty Burger, an unconscious Danny Phantom lay before he reverted back into Danny Fenton. For several moments, Danny lay unconscious upon the ground, motionless, but breathing raggedly with increasing stength. The Nasty Burger had long since cleared out when the four horsemen had arrived and none seemed brave enough to even go near the establishment.

The uneasy peace that had crept over the establishment was soon broken as someone finally noticed the unconscious Fenton and immediately rushed to him. "Oh god! Danny!" Sam declared as she began to check over the young Fenton.

He was obviously injured from one of his many battles, that much was certain. Quickly lifting up his shirt, Sam worriedly checked him over and determined that he had several broken ribs, but thankfully with him being part-ghost, the breaks were relatively clean and he would heal up by the morning. Still, it would be difficult to transport him anywhere safe. They had long established that hospitals were too risky for obvious reasons.

"Danny, I'm so sorry." Sam whispered to her unconscious friend as she began to drag his body carefully to her house through the empty streets of Amity Park. Wednesdays sucked.

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**A/N: New ghosts have just handed Danny's rear to him on a platter without batting an eye. Are these ghosts who they claim they are and what are they searching for? Wait, why am I asking you this? Thankfully Sam found our favorite halfa, but will Danny forgive her? Find out next time on ****Dark Rebirth!**

_**Teaser for next chapter: "End of the world? Sam, what are you talking about?"**_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Things haven't been going too hot for me lately so I decided to take a break from life to work on my story a bit more. I had to revise it a few times as it was not working coherently with itself so I hope you all enjoy it. I've also been forgetting to do this, so I might as well do it now.**

**I do not own Danny Phantom or anything related to it. I'm just a guy with a lot of time on his hands and a computer in front of him.**

**Edited: Dec. 21, 2009**

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**Chapter 3**

Danny felt as if he was floating on air without having to use any of his ghostly powers. Not having to work at all to feel so comfortable was a nice change of pace, as he usually had to work for even the slightest bit of comfort when it came to using his ghostly powers. Up, down, left and right did not exist in his mind due to how addled he was at the moment. After several moments, he began to groan out softly, pain slowly beginning to seep into his body as his consciousness began to return to reality. He frowned lightly at the realization as he was far too comfortable in the position he was in and did not wish to even move the slightest muscle in order to ease the pain his sore body felt.

Briefly, he wondered why pain was aching his body until he remembered the ghosts that had beaten him thoroughly in what felt as if it were only a few hours ago. He could remember the feeling of his life literally being sucked out of his body before…..nothing. He was drawing a blank as to how he escaped from the clutches of the thin horseman that had literally held Danny's life in his hands and he severely doubted that the horseman had a change of heart at the last moment and decided to let him go. No, the horseman clearly wished to finish Danny off once and for all if the unrestrained hatred within the ghosts' eyes were any indication of how the horseman felt about the young halfa.

"_But_ _what happened though?_" he wondered silently to himself, hating to not know how he managed to cheat death once more. Thankfully, death was nothing like Lancer was when a student was caught with cheating, but Danny still did not trust his luck in escaping another narrow death and would rather know now than learning at the last moment and narrowly escaping with his life once more.

Sighing, he knew that he would have to open his eyes eventually and resigned himself to the eventuallity. Slowly cracking both of his eyelids apart, he did not recognize the room he was in at the moment, his mind still in a state of chaos as it was trying to reorganize itself from the events prior to his awakening. He lay in, what felt to be, an extremely comfortable bed for some time until he recognized the room while he slowly turned his head.

Familiar dark purple walls enclosed the room, decorated by several posters of gothic bands as well as the occasional Humpty Dumpty poster that he, Tucker and Sam had purchased at one or two of the concerts. The room was not as neat as one would expect, but it was infinitely much more organized than his own room, as the floor could still be seen despite the numerous knick knacks and the occasional articles of clothing that littered the floor. Thankfully, the unmentionables were not among the discarded clothing that were in his view at the moment as that would be another awkward lecture that he would rather like to avoid for his sanity's sake. Danny pressed his lips together until they formed a thin line, unsure how he should feel about being in the room at the moment.

"_Sam's room_." Danny thought, though the usual warmth when associated to Casper High's resident Goth was noticeably dimmed at the memories of the recent argument that he and his other two friends had shared briefly before he had stormed off in fury.

Shifting ever so slightly due to the discomfort that he felt increasing, Danny's eyes soon widened in surprise as he could now feel that he was not only was he left in nothing but his blue boxers that were decorated with cartoon images of rockets , but his ribs were bandaged properly and his cuts, which had accumulated when the thin horsemen had slammed him into numerous buildings, had been treated. Taking a brief mental check of himself, Danny began to feel the many more scars that adorned his body in addition to the already healed scars that decorated him from the neck down as if they were badges of honor. Then again, some of the scars were surprises that the Box Ghost had left due to a mistake on his part and no one could even remotely consider any wounds left by _him_ to be anywhere near honorable or worth mention.

Deciding that it would not do to be laying down as he began to feel restless, Danny soon began to sit up slowly, propping himself up with his toned but tired arms in order to ease the burden. His task proved quite painful to him, slowing his efforts even further as he struggled to sit up. Finally, he managed to sit up properly, propping up several more pillows underneath his back, as means for support, just as Sam walked in with a tray of food and a first-aid kit in each hand.

Smiling gently at the resident halfa hesitantly, Sam began to approach him, setting down the things on the nearby bedside table. Though many called him clueless for many things, most of which people refused to tell him, he knew this young woman well enough to know that she too was uncertain of their standing after their fight from earlier.

"Danny, you shouldn't be up right now. You'll reopen your cuts." Sam said kindly as she rested her hand on his unhurt shoulder, a gesture of warmth, in order to get him to lay back down.

"I'm fine." Danny replied curtly, shrugging away her hand as he folded his arms while watching her coolly.

The cold rejection of her concern hurt, but Sam would have rather spent the day shopping with Paulina and her satellites rather than admit it in front of Danny. "No, you aren't fine Danny. I've had to treat your injuries and I know how badly you're hurt." Sam pressed on, not wanting him to push himself too hard and hurt himself even more.

Her words were bitter to swallow, but true. However, the anger from day's events were beginning to boil within, especially the memory of the fight he had with her and Tucker only a few hours ago if the clock nearby was any indication of the current time.

"Like you care. You and Tucker are too scared of me now and today just proved it. So what if I tore off that idiot Skulker's _mechanical_ head? It's supposed to come on off." Danny growled out, his eyes flashing green briefly before they faded back to the baby blues that Sam was far more used to looking into when he was upset at either her, his family or just the world in general. At this point Sam would have paid nearly all of her family's fortune just to shift his frustration at someone, anyone, else other than her.

His words felt like sharpened blades to her, slowly digging into her skin and causing her own temper to flare in response in defense. "Well excuse me for being concerned if my best friend is becoming someone that had nearly killed Tuck and me freshman year!" Sam shouted back, his eyebrows furrowing as he anger rose further.

The fires of Danny's rage were immediately quenched, as if Sam had thrown swamp water onto him leaving him cold, dirty and ashamed all at the same time. He could no longer look at Sam as the memories of his twenty-four year old self hovering over him like a dark shadow.

"I promised I wouldn't be him." he whispered silently, clenching his fists as he closed his eyes. Pain shoot through him, having nothing to do with his quickly healing ribs as he and Sam stayed in place in uncomfortable silence.

Quickly realizing the hurtful things she had just said and knowing far too well how much they hurt her crush, Sam bit her lower lip in shame as she sat down slowly on the edge of the bed. "Danny, I didn't mean it like that." Sam said apologetically, trying her best to smooth things over with him.

"Yes you did." Danny replied back quietly, refusing to look at his crush that was crushing his heart, though he did not shrug away her hand like last time.

"No, I didn't Danny… I-……I meant I was afraid you were becoming some…one that would do things that _you _wouldn't do in a million years. You………you're right." Sam said, trying her best not to say some_thing_ as she knew that would further crush Danny, before she sighed in defeat. "I'm-I mean Tucker and I, are getting…scared of you. Last week, you leveled an entire warehouse by firing a concentrated ecto-blast that was like a grenade magnified by ten just to put Ember 'in her place', as you called it. Freshman year you were lucky enough to knock back Technus with one shot from your hands. We care for you Danny, that will never change, but we can't even imagine having even half the powers like you have and, truthfully…you're becoming….darker as they grow." she told her crush gently, hoping her words were getting through to him with their truth..

"But you both have. Tucker wished for ghost powers like me a few weeks after I could actually use mine well enough, and you were the 'Queen' of Undergrowth's garden and none of us can forget Spectra's ghost bugs." Danny reminded her, looking back up to the Goth as his eyes locked with her own once more.

"Yeah, but that's exactly my point. Look how well that all turned out. Tucker was a raging behemoth consumed with the powers he got and was using them for personal gain, I was just a puppet that could do nothing unless my 'father' gave me permission to, and none of us had even the least bit of control of what little ghost powers we had at the time. If not for Tucker's disgusting cologne then we'd probably be dead from the ecto-contamination. Danny, please understand when I tell you we have a hard time understanding your powers and Tucker and I are right to be scared. The only reason any of us have even the slightest clue about any of your powers is by listening to your parents blather on about ghosts, listening to the ghosts themselves, and by sheer luck." Sam told him before slowly wrapping her arms around his shoulders to pull him into a gentle hug. Though she wished….no, not wished. They had agreed that wishing in Amity was equivalent to playing Russian Roulette with a revolver that was half loaded. Though she wanted to hold Danny tighter than she was currently, she did not want to hurt him physically as he was still healing from his wounds.

Blushing at the fact that Sam was hugging him, her eyes closed as she held him, while he was nearly naked, Danny's first natural reaction was to turn his head invisible without realizing it. Not noticing his lack of a head, Danny tenderly lifted his own arms to return the hug in order to show her that he understood. He didn't have to like it, but he understood.

Truthfully, he was noticing the change in his mood through the years, but he didn't pay any mind to it. He thought he was just tired of it all. The constant fighting both against ghosts and for the approval of his family and peers. He had realized not too long ago that ghosts respected two major things in both the Ghost Zone and in the real world. Power and conviction. It was part of the reason that Vlad had half of the Ghost Zone lined up in his pocket. He was unbeatable to the ghosts that resided in the Ghost Zone currently and they only folded to those who could continually put them in their place. Danny had proven to the ghosts far too many times that they could beat him and the ghosts tried their best to take advantage of that. Maybe….maybe because he was thinking more like a ghost lately he was beginning to lose sight of what it meant to be human.

Holding onto Sam tighter, his resolve strengthened, knowing he would do what it would take not to fall further down the path he was unwittingly walking towards the past few weeks. That path…was unpleasant. It led to him winding up as either Vlad, alone, miserable and bitter at the world, or his evil future self whom was hateful, malicious and uncaring about life in general. A small smile creeping to his face, he could feel Sam relaxing against him as the two teens held one another for much longer than what people deemed friends, even close ones at that, should.

The two continued to hold one another for a brief moment longer before Danny let an invisble smile reach his lips, knowing that they were okay once more before a thought reached him. Smirking now, he looked down to Sam.

"You actually listen to my dad blather on about ghosts?" he asked her, amusement evident on his face as he watched her.

"Well, someone has to cover for you when you go out to fight ghosts, and I don't see Tucker talking to your dad any time soon unless its about the emergency ham." Sam shot back, shuddering at the mention of the meaty product that his dad had often let spoil for one reason or another, possibly a ghost related reason at that.

Danny let out a small laugh which brought Sam to pull away from the hug, only to let out a small shout of surprise at the lack of Danny's head. Smacking his shoulder playfully, Sam had him turn his head towards the mirror nearby.

"Ghah! Suffering spooks! Where the heck is my head?!" Danny demanded as he lifted his hand and began to feel around for the missing appendage frantically.

His head soon turned visible once more, much to his relief, causing him to lean back into the pillows that propped him up. "For a minute there I thought the ghosts from earlier took my head after smacking me around town." he chuckled lightly.

Sam frowned at his remark. The ghosts as of late were supposed to be getting easier, if his fight with Skulker was any indication. There were few ghosts left in the Ghost Zone that actually posed a challenge to the young halfa and news of entities actually beating him was concerning to say the least.

"Who did it to you though?" she asked.

"Dunno. Never seen any of them before, but they weren't friendly though, I can tell you that much." Danny replied, his face growing more serious as he thought about how easily he was beaten. Granted, he was a little over-confident but to be subdued by merely being held was enough to sober him as quickly as it did.

"Did they at least introduce themselves? All the ghosts we've had to face in the past at least mentioned their names in passing, or just went on and on about how they were going to dominate the world or something." Sam asked. To her, at least knowing a ghost's name was key into knowing what they were after, if they were malicious at all. 'Knowing is half the battle', or so they said. While Tucker and Danny were firmly convinced that as long as they could smack aside any of the ghosts that popped up around Amity Park without knowing who the ghosts were, Sam would never waver in her beliefs that it would someday take more than just brute force to take down a ghost.

Rubbing the back of his head with his hand, Danny did his best to remember the events that had led up to this point. He had been tossed around the city enough to have people consider he should be suffering from brain damage, but his healing was able to keep that much as nothing more than pointless worrying.

"Um…there was Famine, that was the guy that was making me his personal squeeze toy." Danny said, frowning as he knew that the names were at least somewhat important while he scratched his head in frustration. "Oh, yeah! They called themselves the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!" Danny declared as he snapped his fingers, his memory rushing back to him with full force.

Sam seemed to freeze in place as Danny spoke and her beautiful, porcelain skin seemed to grow paler in surprise as she sat there next to him. "Danny, please tell me that you're just joking. Plllleeeeaaaase." Sam begged softly, her hands curling in worry. Her eyes soon went wide as she saw the halfa shake his head causing her to groan out in frustration before she stood.

"Great, just what I always wanted, to go up against the embodiments of the end of the world." Sam grumbled as she went over to her bookshelf and pulled out a particularly hefty book, the very book she had discovered many of the more ancient ghosts that Danny had fought including the Fright Knight, if memory served him correctly.

"End of the world? Sam, what are you talking about?" Danny asked as he leaned over carefully to see the pages Sam flipped through.

"You don't even pay attention to the History Channel, do you?" Sam asked, a small smile creeping across her face at his ability to be so clueless while it border-lined on stupidity at the lack of knowledge on his part on something that sank into the most well-known legends and stories of the past.

"The Four Horsemen are the first signs of the end of the world, it's a big part of a few well-known religions. The names of the horsemen are Pestilence, War, Famine and Death. Hmm...frankly, I'm surprised that a run-in with them didn't lead to you dying horribly, not that I'm complaining that you're alive that is." Sam told him with a fond smirk as she briefly looked up from her book before looking back down to it.

"They could have been lying. Humans tend to pretend to be someone they're not all the time." Danny offered hopefully, his mind going to a specific older halfa that was at odds with Danny many times in the past.

Shaking her head, Sam sighed lightly. "If only that were true. Ghosts are emotions, energy, or lingering desires that bond with ectoplasm and takes a physical form for the most part. In short, ghosts can't actually lie because it would interfere with who they are. They may be evasive, they may not talk at all or they tell half-truths, but the only ghosts that can lie are you and Vlad and that's only because you're both still part human." Sam explained as she thumbed through the pages of the text.

Danny paused for a moment, unsure if it was assuring or worrying at the fact that ghosts could not lie. Groaning out in frustration, Danny sunk lower into the bed. "Geez, of all the times for the end of the freaking world! What am I going to do?" he asked no one in particular as the weight of the world seemed to be crushing Danny underfoot, his face seeming to deflate in depression.

"Danny, calm down." Sam urged him gently, closing the book as she reached over to gently smack him over the head in order to get him out of his funk.

"Haven't you listened to me or do you suffer a permanent mental disorder where you can't learn anything for more than ten seconds? The horsemen don't cause the Apocalypse. They show that its going to happen soon." she told him, looking him right into his eyes as she told him.

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**A/N: Consider this all of your early Christmas present, or just a present in general if you don't celebrate Christmas. This originally started out as seven pages, but now it's roughly ten! I've finally gotten a Beta reader to look this over, so to all of you that have had to work through my terrible grammar and the occasional spelling mistake, this is another gift to you! Happy Holiday!-Forsaken Beast**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Wow, been a while hasn't it? I know that it's been nearly a month since I've updated, but the holidays can be quite the exciting time for me. Love found and lost, hopes crushed underfoot and faith tested is what the holidays are too me. Ahhh, nostalgia. In any case, I hope everyone had a good time, so enjoy the newest installment of Dark Rebirth!**

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**Chapter 3**

Danny had to admit that he was, for the first time in nearly two years since he had received his ghost powers, speechless as he sat somewhat comfortably upon Sam's plush bed. It wasn't that he had nothing that he could actually say at the moment, but more like his mind was still processing what little information that Sam had spoken to him regarding the Horsemen. Sam seemed to understand why Danny was currently quiet and had left him in order to call Fenton Works and inform Maddie, Danny's mother, that he would be staying over to work on their ever increasing workload together, as Danny needed all the help he could get if he wanted to have any hope in passing math class.

At first, Maddie was hesitant to let her sixteen-year-old son stay with a beautiful young woman with little to no parental supervision what-so-ever, but she also knew that Sam did speak the truth when Danny needed all the help he could get. Danny was always such a bright boy, even when he was just her little baby boy, but ever since freshman year it seemed as if his attention was always elsewhere and that he wasn't exactly 'with them' completely.

Realizing that her worries of letting Danny stay at Sam's were unfounded, she let out a soft laugh to herself as she told Sam that it was okay that he could stay over. While he was only sixteen, Danny was far too much of a gentleman, for a sixteen-year-old at least, and far too dense to even realize Sam's long-time crush upon him as well as his own feelings for the young Goth.

Once Sam was done with the oddly awkward phone call, she could have sworn that Maddie was laughing at something for some reason, she returned to her room to find Danny looking over the book that she had pulled off of the shelf earlier.

"I think I need a camera to record this moment. Danny Fenton actually reading a book, under his own accord, without someone to rip him apart slowly and painfully or spouting off threats to lay his pelt across their bed." Sam declared aloud, her voice tinted with amusement as she closed the door behind her.

"Oh ha, ha. I thought since I won't be doing anything fun until my injuries get better I might as well find out a bit more about the ghosts that decided to remodel Amity by smashing me into the nearby buildings." he replied to her with a roll of his eyes, not bothering to look up from the old book.

"You know, when a guy is in a girl's room in nothing but his boxers, a guy would generally assume that something _fun_ would happen." Sam said, unable to help but crack a joke at the situation.

Danny's face turning into the shade that a beat would be envious of, his head soon went invisible once more much to Sam's amusement as she laughed lightly over Danny's embarrassment. Truthfully, Sam wanted something fun to happen, but not in that way as they were still a bit too young and she still held firm to the belief that Danny did not nor would he ever return her feelings if she were able to admit them to him. She was able to admit that she loved him, albeit in nothing more than a whisper followed by numerous death threats and several promises to inflict bodily harm to Tucker and even her Nana if they ever spoke a word of it in public, but not to Danny. Perhaps never.

Realizing that Sam was merely joking, Danny let out a sigh of relief and….disappointment? He wasn't really sure if he wanted Sam to mean the words that she had spoken, and frankly he was afraid to ask the young Goth if she wanted to. Frankly, he was rather attached to all of his limbs in their proper places and did not want to find out if halfas in general could indeed kick the bucket. In any case, Danny took a calming breath as his head became visible once more.

"I thought you had your powers under control?" Sam asked, not worried about his self-control as she had hours earlier, but merely curious as she knew that Danny had spent countless and tireless hours honing his control over his first few abilities when he received them in the beginning and continued to work on his control every day so that no one else would catch wind of his secret due to carelessness on his part.

They had even created a game in school where Danny would randomly cause a part of his body to go invisible for a few seconds before making it visible again the moment someone looked in their direction without anyone noticing. They had even made numerous more games with each new power he received and the pranks that he did on occasions were hilarious to watch. The look on Dash's face was hilarious when a mountain of snow erupted from his locker had caused the hulking idiot to run out of the school screaming like a little girl when Danny had 'theorized' that a ghost was doing it.

"I do, it's just when I get embarrassed or something then I lose a bit of control. Remember last month when Paulina had promised to make out with me for five seconds if I promised her that Phantom would show up to her birthday bash?" he reminded her.

Instead of being furious at him that he would remind her of such an incident, Sam instead laughed lightly at the memory. While she had initially had the urge to leap at Casper High's Queen Bee, Danny had in sheer shock and surprise, accidentally froze her legs in a block of ice just as a ghost had flown by them. Thankfully, Paulina did not know that Youngblood couldn't cause ice-blasts on that scale, and even then the small-time blasts were only caused by the cybernetic blaster for a leg he had, and so the blame was easily shifted upon the young ghost. Paulina never tried to make such an offer to Danny again in fear that another ghost would ruin her latest shoes…._again_.

Letting Sam enjoy the memory of the look on Paulina's face as her brand-new heels were forever ruined, Danny continued to look through the book before he let out a pained grunt as he clutched at his broken ribs.

Startled out of her reminiscing, Sam was immediately by Danny's side, carefully hovering over him in case he needed any help at all. "Danny, are you okay?" she asked him.

Giving her a pointed look, Sam gave him a meek smile as she knew the answer to her obvious question.

"Sorry, standard question." she said to him as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Is there anything you need me to do?" she asked him gently.

"No, no. I'll be okay. I'm used to this and it isn't the worst I've felt." he replied to her, hoping that as he chuckled, she wouldn't feel worried. Unfortunately, Danny's words did not seem to ease her mind as she frowned lightly, but not at him from what it seemed.

"Sam?" he called out to her gently, hoping to get her attention away from whatever it was that made her look so sad. "Sam, what's wrong?" he asked her seriously as he knew that there was something on her mind that she had been worrying over for quite some time and not just something that she had just realized, especially since she was not one to become so introverted when something worried her. On the contrary, she would vocalize her opinions many times over, especially when it concerned any of their well-being.

"It's just….Danny, I worry about you." she admitted, though not the exact words she knew she felt about the young halfa.

Danny smiled lightly at her words, glad that she cared for him, even if he thought she only cared for him in the way a friend would.

"Sam, between Jazz and my mom I think I have enough women worrying about me enough to fill the Sears Tower a twice. I'm okay." he assured her with a small chuckle at the thought of his overprotective sister and his quietly worrying mother.

Sam shook her head to his words, knowing that what he spoke was not the actual truth. "They may worry about you, but your mom is….well, your mom, and she doesn't even know you're part ghost, and I don't think you ask Jazz to patch you up nearly as much as you ask me…or Tucker." she quickly added the techno-geek's name, though the both of them knew that he would rather offer the occasional jibe at Danny's ego for a cocky mistake he may have made rather than bandaging him up. For someone afraid of hospitals as much as he was, one would think that he would at least know basic first-aid in order to avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor.

"I hate seeing you like this sometimes, Danny. I'm worried that one day…the wounds you'll get in a fight will be too much and you could……" Sam trailed off, unable to propose the idea that he could in fact die in one of the numerous ways the other ghosts threatened to do to him when they would fight.

Danny looked to her softly as he wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulders, doing his best to seem cheerful even though he had thought along those same lines many times late at night after a ghost fight. Those nights were far worse than the ones where an actual ghost would show up in the human world due to the fact that Danny could feel sleep so close to him, but his own fears chasing them further away, depriving him of further sleep.

"You didn't think it was going to be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost down the Fenton Thermos, did you? I'll be fine." he told her, unknowingly echoing the words he had spoken the night he had taken on Pariah Dark. "Sam, we've all been at this for two straight years now and look where we are. Tucker actually has muscles now and the girls at school actually listen to him before they blow him off, I'm not falling through the floor every ten minutes and you……" he trailed off, smiling at her gently as he hugged her tighter. "You make an excellent personal nurse." he teased gently to her with a grin.

Immediately knowing what he meant by those words, Sam broke out of his hold and playfully slapped him over the head. "You jerk. Just because I put some bandages on you after fighting the Box Ghost doesn't make me your own personal nurse. Call me that again and I'm releasing those photos of your eighth grade birthday to the year book." Sam challenged.

Paling at her words, Danny held up his arms as a sign of surrender to Sam. "Alright, alright I give. You're not my personal nurse." he replied to her, hoping she wouldn't go through with her threat, though he severely doubted that she would. After all, even though the photos were very embarrassing for him, there were a few shots of her caught in the chaos of his birthday and though she would say that she cared not what others thought of her, Danny still had a feeling she would die of embarrassment.

Unable to help himself however, he let a small grin shine through. "You're just someone who likes to undress me and take care of me when I'm unconscious." he replied.

Staring at Danny for only a few moments, Sam pushed him onto the bed and climbed on top of him before she began to tickle him. "Ahhhhh! No, d-d-don't t-t-t-tickle me-hahahahaha!" Danny cried out, his arms flailing about, as Sam had him pinned down to the plush bed. "M-my ribs! S-S-Sam, my ribs!" he reminded her through a pained grimance.

Realized what she was doing, Sam immediately stopped tickling Danny and sat up, though did not get up off of his waist. "Oh my God. Danny, are you okay?" she asked him.

He seemed to take a moment to regain his breath before he grinned up mischievously at her. Before she could inquire what he was grinning about, she was soon flipped over so that Danny was on top of her, getting his revenge by tickling her own sides.

Shrieking out playfully, Sam flailed much like Danny had earlier, and let out cries of "Cheater!" as Danny continued to tickle her mercilessly.

In order to keep her pinned, Danny soon began to press his body against her own as he laughed happily while Sam laughed as well before he realized how close they actually were to one another. It took a moment for Sam to realize why Danny was not tickling her any more before she looked up to see him only inches away from her lips.

"Danny." she whispered out softly, feeling the both of them closing in on one another slowly.

Without any warning at all, the door busted open to reveal Tucker rushing in, looking panicked and with a hint of fear across his face. The sudden interruption had both teens startled enough to quickly pull away from one another, though Danny had forgotten he was currently on top of Sam.

"Sam, I just heard that Danny had a fight with some new ghosts and is currently-oh!" Tucker called out loudly before he soon realized that Sam and Danny were currently in an intimate position.

The three friends froze in place, all of them completely and utterly embarrassed until the only words that seemed to fit the situation finally made its way from Tucker's brain to his mouth.

"So…..are you sure that neither of you are lovebirds?" he asked them, a wide grin reaching across his face as his hands reached for the PDA in his pocket in order to take a photo of this moment.

Both of the teens stared at Tucker for a few moments before Danny calmly got off of Sam. Tucker gulped nervously, realizing that both might kill him for what he had just condemned himself to.

"I think I hear my mom calling me, well what do you know? Later you kids and be sure to wear a condom Danny." Tucker told his friend before he sprinted out of the room at full speed, a pillow making its way across the room and smacking against the door as Tucker left.

"If he so much as mentions this at school, my foot is going so far up his rear that he won't be able to sit down again. _Ever_." Sam growled out angrily as Danny laid back down beside Sam, taking in a deep breath in order to ease the aches his body still felt.

"I'm going to go down and get something to eat. The food I brought up here only tastes good warm and fresh and now….well unless you want to experiment with a new Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian dish that includes fungi then I doubt you'll stop me." Sam said, a small smile reaching her lips as Danny paled at the thought of swallowing her rather unique choice in food again.

"That's what I thought." Sam laughed softly as she left the room in order to get something better to eat.

By the time Sam returned with a couple of plates of bread and soup, Danny was fast asleep, dozing lightly against her soft pillows with the beddings still drawn down to his waist from earlier. Giving out a light sigh and a shake of her head, Sam began to approach him once more in order to pull the covers up for him to sleep more comfortably. Once she was close to Danny, she took a moment to look at his face. Unlike when he was awake he was neither tense nor was he as depressed as he believed himself to be. Reaching up gently, she lightly ran her fingers through his hair with a smile as she leaned down to kiss his forehead.

"Night Danny." she whispered softly.

Before she could get up, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her waist and pull her in close. Keeping in a yelp of indignation, she soon came to realize that Danny was holding her tightly as he slept. While her first reaction was to smack him on the head for holding her without her consent, she could not bring herself to do it as he looked too peaceful for once as he buried his face in her hair as he slept.

Letting out one last sigh, she couldn't honestly say she didn't like the position that they were in at the moment and merely snuggled against Danny's lean form in order to get in a more comfortable position. Letting out one last yawn, sleep soon claimed Amity's resident Goth.

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**A/N: There you go folks. Truthfully, I don't really like this chapter as the action and story slows down just a tad and it will pick up a bit in the next chapter. Everyone, thank Miriam1 though for being the Beta as without Miriam's help this chapter would be an utter mess as when I wrote this I wasn't completely in the sanest state of mind. Read and review because I love to see the counter for Reviews, Favorites and Story Alerts to go up higher and higher!**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/U: Hey there folks, Foresaken here with the newest chapter of Dark Rebirth. I just started up a new semester of college once more and it doesn't look like I'll have it easy any time soon, but the good news is that I still have plenty of time to type out these chapters and post them on . So, without further interruption, let's get it started!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DP. If I did, I'd probably shift it to Cartoon Network before they put on reality shows that make me sick to my stomach.  
**

**Chapter 5**

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The morning rays began to shine down upon the inhabitants of Amity Park, slowly warming the inhabitants below as well as the earth upon which they stood. While the sun promised a new day for its inhabitants, filled with danger and excitement, there were still two teenagers that were oblivious to the time of day.

Both teens slept peacefully in one another's arms, the steady rhythm of their breathing remaining constant as Sam nuzzled lightly against Danny's chest before her alarm blared to life, shaking her out of her peaceful slumber. Grumbling in annoyance, Sam's hand reached out blindly and began to grope for the snooze button. Eventually finding the button through trial and error, Sam pounded on the small item causing the device to fall silent once more allowing silence to fill the room yet again. Waiting for a few moments to be sure that the device that had caused much annoyance in the past was off, Sam sighed out softly at the ensuing peace only to hear who she laid upon sigh back in response. Her eyes snapping open at the realization that someone was in bed with her, she began to look upright and soon found Danny before her.

Raising her hand to slap her crush for sleeping in the same bed as her, the previous day's events flooded back into her memory causing her to lower her hand. Breathing in deeply to calm herself down, Sam began to lightly shake the Ghost-Boy in order to wake him out of his slumber.

"Danny? Danny. Danny, get up, you lazy bum." Sam said softly to the young halfa who refused to awaken much to her annoyance.

She soon began to grin as Danny remained unresponsive, she raised her hand as high into the air as she could in the position she was in before she let it strike her crush across the face hard and fast. Almost immediately, Danny woke up with a yelp of pain as he bolted upright, a hand flying up to his cup his own cheek before looking to see Sam smirking to him with obvious amusement.

"What's the big-?" Danny was about to ask before he his words died immediately down his throat upon seeing Sam before him.

His mind went blank as he had lost his train of thought the moment he came to realize that he was in naught but his boxers in the same bed as the girl whom he was currently crushing on. Naturally, in such a case, Danny did the first thing that came to mind the moment his brain managed to reboot. Lifting up his other arm, Danny began to squeeze a small portion of his skin as hard as he could before he let out a small yelp of pain.

"_Please be a dream and not real life or a nightmare. If it's either of the last two then I can say good-bye to my arms and legs._" Danny thought as his eyes grew wide, raising both of his hands before him in hopes to placate Sam for whatever he might have had done.

Taking advantage of the new situation with the now absent presence of Danny's arms wrapped tightly around her, Sam soon got up and lifted her index finger as she leaned in towards Danny.

"This never leaves my room." Sam said menacingly as she narrowed her eyes at her crush as she knew that the moment her parents, her grandmother, or Tucker got wind of the situation then she would no longer rest as easily for quite some time. "Got it?" she added, dangerously.

"Got it." Danny replied almost immediately, keeping his hands up in a peaceful gesture, knowing full-well the consequences if anyone found out about what their current situation was. Though he could easily turn intangible, Sam knew exactly where his dad kept the ghost gauntlets and how to obtain them in order to exact her threats no matter what state of matter he may have chosen in order to avoid her wrath.

"Good." Sam replied approvingly before a sharp knock upon her door was soon heard.

"Sam, it's time to get up now. Breakfast is already on the table now and you haven't even made your lunch yet. Is everything alright?" the voice of Sam's grandmother, Ida Manson, spoke out softly as she sat upon her scooter in front of her granddaughter's door.

Her eyes widening in surprise, she immediately turned to Danny only to find that he had gone invisible. Relieved that he was actually thinking for once instead of panicking as he would normally do, she held back a sigh and walked over to the door in order to show that she was alright.

Opening the door as calmly as she could, Sam smiled to the only adult-figure within her own family that took an interest into her beyond trying to stick her into pink and frilly dresses that seemed 'adorable'.

"I'm fine, Nana. Just overslept." she assured her grandmother with a soft, but reassuring smile.

Ida nodded in understanding for a moment, smiling lightly to her granddaughter before something caught her attention behind Sam. Barely shifting her weight upon her scooter, Ida immediately saw the familiar, discarded shirt of Danny's upon her granddaughter's floor before she sat properly on the comfortably padded seat before giving her granddaughter a pointed look.

She had watched Sam grow from the adorably small child with black pig-tails that would always want to make non-dairy cookies, into the young and independent woman she was now. Ida had also watched over her two friends, Danny and Tucker for several years, as a means of getting to know all the parts of her granddaughter long before Sam had first shown the two boys her massive home nearly two years ago. Having watched the trio of friends, Ida was knowledgeable on their trust in one another and how Sam felt about Danny, but she also trusted her granddaughter in making the right decisions in her life unlike how her son and his wife felt about their daughter. Knowing this, Ida gave a sly grin to her granddaughter in order to tease her.

"I'm sure you did, dear. Next time though,.........make sure Danny uses some protection." Ida told her granddaughter before she began to ride away on her scooter, cackling like a mad-woman as she left the staff members, whom she whizzed by, confused as to what had Ida in such a good mood so early in the morning despite the fact that she was usually in a happiness that differed from her son and his wife.

Fully embarrassed, Sam closed the door as she turned to where she had left Danny to find him blushing brilliantly, but fully visible as he began to get up. "I should go now." he said as he quickly pulled on his pants and shot out of the room as if he were on fire, having only a nod of Sam's head in response to Danny's hasty exit. As soon as Danny had made a hasty exit, she began to get ready for the day as she was silently thankful that her grandmother was going to Vegas with her Bridge Club in a matter of minutes, however that fact wouldn't stop Ida from teasing Sam relentlessly when she got back from her trip.

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Danny had managed to slip into his room unnoticed in order to change his clothing without any worries, as both of his parents knew he had spent the night over at Sam's home. Having known Fenton Work's security system like the back of his hand, he was able to slip in and out of his room in either of his forms with relative ease so long as his dad did not burst into his room late at night in order to show off his latest invention despite the fact that he would do so when Danny was supposed to be asleep, however his mom was able to keep his dad from doing it until the morning when Danny was actually awake and had theoretically had a full night's sleep. Though he always hated his parents' explanation of their inventions when he was younger, he was thankful that his parents insisted that both of their children know most of the security systems as well as they did in order to be ready for any ghostly or non-ghostly entity that might decide to invade their home one day. As his dad kept on telling his childeren, "It's only a matter of time until some spectral spook decides the Fenton's become too much of a threat to be left ignored. Silently going downstairs in order to take some fruit before either of his parents got up, he managed to swipe an apple and was out the door just as he heard the sounds of his dad's heavy-footed steps coming downstairs in order to have his morning flapjacks and ham.

After a brief walk from his home, he soon spotted Tucker and gave a brief wave to his best friend with half-hearted enthusiasm, as he knew what would happen the moment his best friend opened his mouth. Though apart of Danny hoped that Tucker would merely let the matter of him being in Sam's room drop, he knew that such ideas were far too much to hope for considering that Tucker seemed to want the both of them to get together almost as much as Danny did. Then again, knowing his best friend, there was without a doubt a secondary reason Tucker wanted his two best friends to hook-up with one another.

"Mornin' Tuck." Danny greeted as he took a bite out of the fruit he had taken from his home to replace the need for a full breakfast. It would do little to appease his stomach in the long-run despite the fact that he did not actually need to eat quite as much as he used to before The Accident during his freshman year, but at least it would pull him through the first couple of periods before lunch.

Unable to help himself, Tucker grinned at his friend as he seemed to find Danny amusing at the moment. "You certainly look _refreshed_ this morning. Had a good night?" Tucker asked, his tone far from innocent as he chuckled and began to wiggle his eyebrows as suggestively as possible..

Groaning out in exasperation as he had hoped against all logic that his friend would not have teased him so early in the morning, Danny glared at his friend as he threw the partially-eaten piece of fruit at his geeky friend. "Shut up, Tuck. Nothing happened last night and you know it." Danny growled out as he kept a blush from creeping up on his face, regretting throwing the piece of fruit at Tucker as he was still hungry.

Spotting Sam in the far distance, Danny gave a wave to her in hopes of changing the subject, but sadly the subject did not seem to be able to change anytime soon as Sam handed Danny the shirt in which he had left behind earlier. "You forgot about this when you left this morning." Sam told him before letting out a small yawn, rubbing her eyes wearily as the trio continued on their treck to Casper High.

Starring wide-eyed at the two of his friends, Tucker soon erupted into a fit of laughter at the implications of what Sam had just said. "Oh gawd! You...Sam...last night!" Tucker roared out loudly much to their embarrassment just as they began to enter into Casper High.

"Hey, Sucker, what the heck is so funny so early?" one of the dimmer Casper High jocks, Damien, asked Tucker as he approached the trio out of curiosity.

Unable to repeat himself fully, Tucker was unable but to just laugh and point to Danny and Sam, only able to tell the jock, "Last night," before his fits of laughter overtook him once more much to their embarrassment.

"Seriously? Fenton and Manson finally hooked up? Oh yeah, that's a Franklin in the bank for me!" Damien shouted out excitedly before he began to race to the rest of the A-List in order to spread the word as quickly as possible. The worst part was that since the A-List consisted of the most popular as well as the largest gossip-mongers, rumors would erupt in an instant it left the group.

Their faces red with fury, the two 'Lovebirds' turned to their friend who was paralyzed with laughter. "You're dead Foley!" the two of them cried out as they leapt at the techno-geek.

His survival instincts kicking in, Tucker did the only thing that he could as he snapped out of his fit of laughter as he ran for his life as the other two of Casper High's notorious 'losers' began to race after him through the halls. Frankly, Tucker would have made a clean escape from his friends if not for the small fact that his shoelaces were untied, having avoided their initial assault. Tripping over his own laces, Tucker pitched forward and rolled on the ground long enough for Danny and Sam to catch up to him, taking their time as their prey was backing away from the two teens.

"Now guys, let's be reasonable about this, okay?" Tucker asked as he held out his hands in a gesture that pleaded for mercy, though he knew that the wrath of the 'Lovebirds' would not yield to his poor attempts at peace.

Sadly, but predictably, neither Sam nor Danny were in any mood to give their friend any bit of what he pleaded for as they proceeded to stuff him into the nearest locker. Though the locker door was much smaller than Tucker's new body build, thanks to Danny's ghost powers they were able to slip their friend into the locker despite his struggling and locked the door.

The bell soon rang out, indicating that class would be starting soon as Danny and Sam looked in the direction of Mr. Lancer's class, much to their dismay as a majority of the A-List would be in the same room as them. While normally both Danny and Sam could stand those that were in the same class as they were in, despite Dash's bullying and Paulina's....'Paulinaness' as Sam called it, they knew that there would be no peace in any of their classes from several weeks. Sighing out loudly, the two teens reigned themselves to their fate as they headed off in the direction of their first class for the day.

"How bad do you think the gossip will be by the time we get in there?" Danny asked dryly as they both of them leisurely strolled to Lancer's class.

"Please, this is high school. By the time we get in class they'll have already jumped to the conclusion that we eloped last week and I'm cheating on you for someone three cities over." Sam said, rolling her eyes as her shoulder's slumped at the thought of the endless possibilities that the rumors presented.

Though Danny's first reaction was to crack a joke involving their reception, his words failed to even make it out of his own mouth due to the loud hoots and wolf-whistles the moment they had entered into their class room due to the students that had already caught wind of at least some of the rumors. Fully embarrassed, the two teens took their seats with what little dignity they were able to retain as they were soon bombarded with question from all the other students. Though everyone knew that they had not truly hooked up yet, everyone was unable to resist teasing the two of them as nearly everyone in Casper High had at least some amount of money riding on when the two of them finally hooked up. Currently, the odds were in favor of the two of them finally admitting their feelings during their Senior year.

The voices soon began to die down as Lancer entered the class, a small stack of books in his arms as he came in and set them down upon his desk. His gaze sweeping over the class briefly, he seemed almost surprised that Danny was in class on time today and fully awake as he began to go over roll-call and equally surprised that Tucker Foley was not in class at all considering that he had a solid attendance record in any of his classes. "Well then, class. If we can open our books to 136, we can start class right away. After all, I doubt Mr. Fenton and Ms. Manson want to hear any more about what they have done last night." Lancer said with a smirk making Danny and Sam groan out once more miserably.

"_It's going to be a looooong day._" the two teens thought to themselves.

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**A/U: Another chapter down the drain. Geez, I didn't really like this chapter all too much as it didn't seem to hold that same spark as the other ones did. I swear, it must be the guy in me, but I need to write an action scene and soon before I start to lose it with all the fluff and angst that I go around every day. In any case, Read and Review as I love to see the counters for Hits, Reviews, Favs, and Alerts go up and up for every day that passes. I have a feeling I'm missing something though....Oh well. I'll probably wind up editing this chapter later in any case so I'll probably throw it in after. Hope you have a good Single Awareness Day (Valentine's Day) if you celebrate it!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey everybody, sorry I've been so long with the updates, but as my story goes on I have to take a little more time to plan it out apparently. In any case, this chapters was difficult to write simply because I got rusty over the time I spent studying for my different classes. Failed something, but that's not important. In any case, here is the latest chapter of Dark Rebirth and I hope all of you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cheese Nips, Danny Phantom, or the number '2'.**

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Chapter 6

Sam and Danny trudged into the living room of Fenton Works, both equally exhausted as they slumped onto the couch after a hard and long two full days of school. As Sam leaned her head against Danny's shoulder, Danny could not bring himself to place an arm around her or feel embarrassed about the situation as he normally would. His arms felt as if they were two blocks of lead and he felt as if he had blushed enough for the rest of the year as nearly everyone in school freely teased the two of them to such a degree that they were forced to go up on the roof of the gym in order to escape the constant onslaught of ridiculing by their peers.

The only solace they had was that Tucker was no longer teasing them to such a degree as the other students had. Though he would make the occasional innuendo each time Danny or Sam said something that could have been interpreted another way, as was expected of the Techno-Geek, he had fortunately kept his mouth shut about all the other matters as he knew for a fact that it was his fault his two best friends were on the highest priority of Casper High's 'Must Ridicule List'. He was tempted to tease the two on occasion, but the two of them would only have to glare at him and thrust their fingers to the nearest locker to show what his fate would be if he spoke along the obvious line of thought anywhere in their immediate vicinity. It had taken ages to get out of the locker that Danny and Sam had shoved him inside the first time, and he was not in the mood for a repeat performance any time soon.

As the two of them relaxed against one another, Danny's attention was drawn to the nearby telephone as it began to ring. At first, Danny was tempted to ignore the shrill device that had broken the silence that had developed between the two friends, but sadly he could not even afford that luxury as the Caller I.D. that his parents insisted upon alerted the young halfa that it was his mother's cell phone.

Giving out a tired groan as he picked up the phone from its cradle, he pretended to be more tired than he actually was in hopes that if his mom wanted him to do anything too tedious, she would decide to hold it off until Danny actually needed to take care of whatever it was that she wanted him to do.

"Hello?" Danny answered the phone, his voice feigning weariness though it held an edge of caution in case it was his dad using his mom's phone. If Danny wasn't careful then he would be on the phone all day listening to Jack ramble on about whatever it was that he had called about before going off on a tangent about ghosts.

"Hi sweetie, it's Mom!" Maddie replied back in her usual peppy tone that could get most kids' attention in an instant. "I'm just calling to tell you that your father and I are across town on a supposed ghost sighting. We'll be back in time for dinner, but could you be a dear and start cooking for us tonight? I was thinking pasta and you can throw in whatever else you want. Thanks a billion! Jack, watch out for the school bu-" Maddie hung up soon afterwards, obviously so that she could get Jack to drive like a sane human being for once. Though Maddie had asked her son to cook dinner, Danny knew from personal experience that anything that Maddie asked him to do was to be interpreted as a command that he was expected to follow to the letter.

Shaking his head, Danny hung up as well and placed the phone back in its place upon the cradle before he got up carefully. Making sure that he did not disturb Sam as she was, as she put it, in her 'comfy spot' of the Fentons' couch, Danny made his way to the kitchen and began to get out the ingredients for tonight's dinner.

While he loved his family, Danny had long since discovered that he was the only one in the family that had fortunately been blessed with, as the Fentons referred to it jokingly, the 'cooking gene'. Granted, his mother could bake with the best in the world, but when it came to actually cooking a meal without the oven's assistance, Maddie would love to use the ecto-powered stove and cooking utensils that Jack had made for her on their anniversary, her birthday, or any other celebration where gifts were expected. While the notion was sweet, Danny had lost count of the number of times their evening meal had tried to eat _them_ in return. Otherwise, Maddie's pride as the home's expert baker prevented her from using the items that Jack had hand-crafted for his wife.

His sister was at least a little better when it came to the culinary arts. While she was nowhere near Maddie's level when it came to cakes, cookies or other confectionary items, Jazz could at least whip up cupcakes quickly with little worry and she could also make a decent salad, but beyond that, there were times that Danny was certain that she could burn _water_, of all things. Who really cared about the difference between half a cup of olive oil and nine-nineteenths of a cup? Jazz's focus on the insignificant things often-times led to the item being set ablaze before them unless he or his mother took action.

As for his dad, Jack? Well all Danny needed to say was that his dad had stopped trying after, what he liked to call, "The Night of the Killer Birthday Cake". Enough said.

Letting the pasta boil in the pot, Danny reached into the fridge to retrieve some garlic for his garlic cheese bread when he heard a strange, wailing noise that erupted from the sirens placed throughout the house. It took him a moment to identify what exactly the noise was before he set everything down and immediately rushed to the basement, giving out his battle-cry as he changed into his ghostly form.

The Fenton Ghost Alert System was something that Danny liked to keep off as the entire thing was meant to alert everyone within the house that an unauthorized individual had passed through the Ghost Portal and had entered into the Fentons' home. Danny normally shut it off when he was home not only because he had his own biological alarm when it came to ghosts, but also because that if he did leave the alarm on all day then he would never be able to take care of the nuisance, usually in the form of the Box Ghost, as his parents would try to take care of it themselves at the risk of blowing him up as well.

As Danny phased through the door of the basement, he took a moment to survey the surroundings before he stopped in the middle of the room. Surprisingly, the desks and the clutter that usually rested upon it was strewn about, littering the floor as three familiar ghost-vultures surrounded the fallen figure of a man that was curled upon something, protecting it from what Danny assumed to be Vlad's servants. Taking no time to even check if the person was watching him, Danny shot off to the rescue of the person. The vultures were obviously caught off-guard as the first one didn't even realize the oncoming Ghost Boy's fist that quickly approached the ghostly scavenger's face and began to propel him across the room into the Ghost Portal. The other two managed to swerve out of the way of Danny's assault for a brief moment, but it seemed as if they tried to say something the entire time Danny flung himself at them.

"Wait, chi-" one of them tried to object, only for Danny to wrap one of his gloved hands around the beak of the vulture and hurled him at the other one, both of them being sent toppling into the swirling green vortex of the Ghost Zone.

With the green menaces out of the way and the doors to the Ghost Portal closed once more, Danny walked over to the unconcious man. Briefly, Danny wondered how the man had gotten into Fenton Works, but as Danny turned the man over on his back, Danny no longer needed any questions as he identified the person he had just 'saved'.

"Vlad." Danny spat out, his hand jerking away from the man as if he were poisonous to the touch, though the usual venomous tone that he reserved specifically for the psychotic rich-boy was toned down considerably.

Danny had met Vlad only a few years ago, during his parents' college reunion . At first, the man seemed kind, if not somewhat creepy, but soon Danny learned that the man was far more twisted than Danny would have ever guessed. The white-haired man had tried to win the favor of Maddie and her children by lavishing praise on them and telling them things that they wished to hear, all in a sad attempt to 'win-over' Maddie by overshadowing Jack and having him go on a rampage during the reunion. Fortunately, Danny had managed to counter Vlad's plans by promising the aged halfa that if he did not leave Jack's body then Danny would expose both of their identies to Maddie. Vlad left Jack's body, but with a sense of twisted pride at the knowledge that he was educating Danny on how to manipulate others for one's own gain. From then on the two halfas had created a hate-filled relationship that had almost meant the end for both of them due to negligence on both of their parts as well as heated battles that had occasionally plunged both the human world and the Ghost Zone into chaos.

One might ask how such a thing was possible, to match up to a half-ghost half-human hybrid that could simply phase through most attacks, but the answer for that was simple. Vlad, like Danny, was a half-human half-ghost hybrid, but the main difference between the two was one thing that Danny still had trouble catching up to the older half-ghost. Experience. Unlike Danny, Vlad had more than twenty years of experience that surfaced from the desperate need to control his ghost powers as Vlad believed that those he might tell about his ghostly powers would think of him as a freak and would not help him work through the same scares that Danny had when he had first gotten his ghostly powers. From that same need to control his own powers, Vlad soon discovered several different powers that were both the same as the young Fenton's and yet completely different as well, such as Vlad's unique ability to both create several different copies of his body and have any of them revert to his human form while his original body could stay in its ghost form. Through the twenty years of stumbling in fear, fear of being found out and abducted to a governement facility where he would be painfully experimented on, Vlad soon mastered his powers to a degree where he began to preform robberies.

The robberies started out small, as is the case with many criminals. Cash registers in convience stores quickly changed to vaults in large banks that were practically undefended against a robbery from an invisible and intangible being. Eventually, Vlad began to overshadow powerful business men and have them generously 'donate' large sums of money to his newly created company VladCo. eventually making him one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

It was frightening though. While Vlad normally had his crisp Italian business suit freshly pressed and cleaned without even the smallest bit of wear evident as well as having his graying hair, that he had received ever since the accident with the experimental Ghost Portal back during his days in college, in a neat ponytail, none of these things were evident with the man that lay before him. His suit in tatters, leaving only the barest remains of the top, and his neatly-kept hair now unbound and strewn about reminded Danny of the few times he had actually seen the elder and crazed half-ghost in such a state. Every instance Danny could recall usually meant that Vlad had gotten into something that was far beyond his capabilities and, by proxy, Danny's as well.

Still regarding the downed man with the usual amount of suspicion that Vlad had forced Danny to carry when it concerned the elder half-ghost, Danny took a sharp intake of air as he backed away from Vlad once more as he saw what Vlad held onto for dear life.

Clutched to his chest as if they were water balloons of poor quality were the legendary items of the Ghost Zone that had forced every last free ghost to work together in some way, shape, or form in order to take down the titanic threat of the Ghost King. In Vlad's possession was the Crown of Fire and the Skeleton Key.

"Danny, my boy. Help me." Vlad pleaded weakly, his voice cracking slightly from the lack of liquids as his consciousness was slowly slipping from his own grasp.

Personal experience with Vlad wanted the young halfa to shout out no, to kick the elder while he was down, to do anything besides assist the wounded elder halfa, but Danny could not honestly forsake the man as he was obviously wounded and terrified of…something. He knew that he would regret the moment of mercy later on.

If the same situation would have arisen back during his freshman year of high school, Danny would have assisted the elder halfa with little thought other than a small amount of suspicion that Danny usually held when it came to all matters of Vlad. Over the years, both of the halfas' relationship with the other had devolved from a strained and twisted sort of mutal respect that was derived from their shared afflictions, to a bitter dislike of the crazed halfa, on Danny's part, and for a anger that was deeply cemented in Vlad at Danny's annoying habit of stopping whatever plan he had come up with at the time to either win over Maddie, which Danny still found deeply disturbing, or to rule over the world with an iron fist.

While Danny would have normally been fine to merely let Vlad continue on in vain to obtain many of the things he could never have, his dislike for the elder grew much greater due to the amount of times Vlad had threatened his family, friends, and even innocent bystanders with the sheer amount of danger he had put Danny through with the number of ghosts that were at the crazed halfa's beck and call. Danny had lost count of the number of times Sam, Tucker, and even Jazz had almost died due to one of Vlad's schemes and if not for the fact that Danny was able to take out his frustrations on the Box Ghost, Skulker, or any other ghost that happened to make its way through the Ghost Portal, then Danny would have tried to take on Vlad once and for all regardless of how ready he was or how much his friends would protest otherwise.

Whatever terrified Vlad to such an extent was obviously nothing but trouble for the young halfa, but Danny knew that he would not be able to look at himself in the mirror any longer if he acted exactly as Vlad would and exploit the downed man or finish him off. Truth be told, he was not sure if he would be able to look at anyone ever again if he left the broken man before him to rot. As much as Danny wanted to protest otherwise, it was just not in his nature despite all the trouble Vlad had put him through.

Darting quickly upstairs, Danny managed to rouse Sam out of the respite that she was able to achieve upon the oddly comfortable couch of Fenton Works. Though obviously displeased, as the brief smack to the back Danny's head proved, Sam was alarmed at the news that Danny's arch nemesis was currently downstairs, regardless of what condition he was in. Though she tried to convince the young halfa otherwise in leaving the elder halfa to rot or even to toss Vlad through the Ghost Portal, Danny would not be swayed in his decision to assist his arch-nemisis.

"You are so stubborn!" Sam shouted, her frustration managing to peak out against her friend, but could not refute any argument he made to counter her protests.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Sam quickly took charge once she soon gave in to Danny's stubborn attitude and had the young halfa pry away the items from Vlad in order to make things easier to carry him upstairs. It was obvious that Danny felt apprehensive about the items that Vlad held onto as if either item was a lung, but Sam did not ask Danny what they were. She knew that they were undoubtedly dangerous, as was just about any glowing object they came across the Ghost Zone such as Dora's amulet or the Fright Knight's treasured blade, but there was a wounded man within the Fenton residence and that took presidence over all else. Once Danny had managed to get the rich halfa upstairs into the guestroom, Sam went to work treating the wounds that she was willing to treat, going nowhere past the waist of Vlad's pants as, as she put it, "There is no way I am going anywhere near a forty-year-old butt any time soon, regardless of how badly it was kicked." When she put it that way she definitely had a point.

Letting Vlad rest, Danny was unable but to stare at the resting artifacts that Vlad had somehow managed to hang onto while Sam was downstairs cleaning up whatever blood that Vlad had bled onto the floor that they carried the elder halfa over so that Jack and Maddie would not become alarmed at the sight the large amount of blood.

Danny had only seen the Skeleton Key once in his life and he had seen the Crown of Fire only twice. Most ghosts were lucky to even hear a legend about them with how much stigma surrounded them and, frankly, Danny couldn't blame the ghosts that felt that way. The Crown of Fire was meant to be a powerful source of raw and untamed power, something that had fueled the Ghost King's desire to conquer and control the Ghost Zone and its inhabitants as well as those in the human world. After Pariah's defeat at the hands of the young Ghost Boy and whatever ghosts that had gone to his aid, Vlad had whisked it away along with the Skeleton Key. Danny had thought that he had seen the last of it, but was proven wrong months later when Vlad had Jazz in a new and improved version of the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton and pitted the two siblings in a fight to the death.

Thankfully, such a thing was avoided as both of the Fenton's had managed to trick the aged halfa and destroyed the suit, but Danny had not thought twice about the Crown of Fire as he believed it to be nothing more than scrap. Apparently, one couldn't destroy such an object in such a simple means such as an explosion.

The Skeleton Key, Danny was sad to admit, was something that gave him a greater feeling of apprehension than the Crown ever would. Danny had heard the story straight from the source as Vlad had admitted how he had unleashed the nearly unstoppable Ghost King from his Coffin that was intended to hold him for all of eternity when he had really meant to retrieve the Crown of Fire from the King's head. Vlad's blundering had nearly cost both dimensions of numerous lives when all he wanted was the vast power that a mere crown was supposed to posses. The thought infuriated Danny to no end, but quickly quelled the rage with the sobering thought that Danny still needed to talk to Vlad.

Turning to the recovering half-ghost, Danny scowled and gave Vlad a swift jab in the shoulder. Yelping indignantly, Vlad opened his eyes and scowled at the younger halfa.

"Do we really have to do this now?" Vlad asked, slightly annoyed at being punched but in a tone that was barely stronger than when he plead for Danny to help him.

"Yes, _Uncle Vlad_," Danny replied, his tone mocking and with no sympathy to his nemesis. "What happened?" he asked, a small scowl adorning his maturing face as his blue eyes briefly flashed to an emerald green.

Vlad gave Danny an appraising look, almost proud that Danny was able to look at least somewhat intimidating to him, 'almost' being the key word.

Sighing, as he wanted to recover more so that he would be able to defend himself if Danny got any funny ideas, he knew he could no longer put off the subject, lest a young halfa deem him healthy enough and shove him out of the second-story window…..again.

"My dear Daniel, have you ever heard of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?"

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**A/N: Ah ha ha! Finally done with this one! I started this chapter a little more than a couple of months ago and I finally got it down on the computer without me attacking myself for losing the copy I kept on a flash drive!**

**In any event, let's all give a round of applause to my Beta, Miriam1, because without her...well let's just say it would not only be a shorter chapter, but a worse one.**

**Hope you all have a good summer, and I'll try to not make everyone wait for the next chapter as long as I did. Read and Review**

**-Forsaken Beast**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi everone! I know it's been far too long, but here I am with the newest chapter for you all! I'm already working on the next chapter, so I hope it won't be as long of a wait as this one was, but I am not giving up on this fic! I will not show weakness!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any Phantom related products! However, I do own the new Ghost in a Box! It's a Ghost...in a Box! What more could you want?**

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Chapter 7

Danny made sure that his face showed indifference as he stared at Vlad, dread spreading throughout his body while he shifted his weight to maintain a relaxed position in front of the aged halfa. He was careful to keep his voice level when he finally responded to the elder half-ghost.

"The what? Sorry, but my dad was the only one in the family that wanted a pony as a kid." Danny replied, his tone as light as he could make it despite the knowledge of who the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were.

"Ah, but of course. I suppose that C in your English class is well deserved. To be fair, I'm sure they didn't go over biblical figures in school as much as some fanatics might like. What I'm speaking of, my dear boy, are the four ghosts that you recently had your spectacular loss against." Vlad replied, a smirk unable to be supressed as he relished any defeat the teen was handed, even if it was not at the wounded man's hands.

Danny merely rolled his eyes at the way Vlad referred to his humiliating defeat two days ago. It did not surprise Danny in the least that Vlad knew of what he had been up to, as the elder halfa had a creepy habit of spying on him and his family when he least expected it. Danny had tried to find the surveillance devices with the help of Sam and Tucker many times before, but it seemed that for every electronic device he found, two more sprung up within days of its removal. Danny had long since given up and hoped against all odds that Vlad had found a hobby that went beyond spying on his family. Knitting was something the younger halfa could easily see Vlad do.

Snickering internally at the thought of Vlad toiling away to create a sweater with his mom's face on it, Danny soon faced his arch nemesis with an increased seriousness. "Alright Plasmius, so you know that I got my butt kicked, big deal. What's this about the Four Horsemen?" Danny asked, finding no point in feigning ignorance any longer.

"Yes, well soon after your little encounter with those four, they soon arrived at my manor. At first, I merely thought that they were more ghosts seeking my employment, as many do, but soon it became rather obvious they were after something else." Vlad replied, his eyes flickering over to the two artifacts that were laid out a short distance away.

Nodding in understanding, Danny let his gaze briefly flicker over to the two ghostly artifacts that had caught Vlad's attention as well. Pulling his gaze away from the artifacts that lay near the both of them, Danny turned his attention back to the aged halfa once more.

"You don't exactly live all that far away. If they came to your place right after coming out of the Ghost Zone here, then why did it take until just now to get here?" Danny asked, crossing his arms as his attention was fully focused upon Vlad once more.

His own attention now away from the ghostly artifacts, Vlad turned back to the younger halfa and grimaced at the memories of the past couple of days. "To put it simply, the Horsemen are highly dedicated to whomever wants the Crown and the Skeleton Key. You could imagine how _well _the fight went against the four of them when I was both trying to keep them away from where I hid the two items as well as fighting them on my own." Vlad said, his voice bitter at the memory of how the four ghosts had nearly slaughtered him. Danny nodded in understanding as he could imagine how powerful each of the Horsemen were individually, let alone how much stronger they were when they used their overwhelming teamwork that had, as Vlad put it, slaughtered him.

"I just barely managed to grab both of the items from where I hid them and slipped into the Ghost Zone to make my escape. Even though I had a good lead on them, they were relentless in their pursuit of me; however, I believe I managed to lose them somewhere around Ember's lair and I just barely managed to make it here." Vlad finished, leaning back into the bed he rested in to emphasize his relief.

Danny raised a brow at how relieved Vlad was at managing to escape from the Four Horsemen, but felt as if there was something that was being overlooked by his arch-nemesis.

"But, how did they even know that you had either of those things, let alone both in the same place?" Danny asked, gesturing to the Ring and the Crown with a wave of an arm as he continued to watch Vlad carefully.

"I mean, it's not like you advertise that you hold some of the most dangerous artifacts in creation and I'd bet the allowance that my dad keeps promising me you don't even tell some of the more dedicated ghosts that work for you even half of the things that you own that could be a threat to the Ghost Zone."

"Truthfully, they could have found out any number of ways, Daniel. Admittedly, while I have one of the best anti-ghost security systems on the planet, you still manage to slip in and out of my manor in either form no matter what I set up to stop you." Vlad told the younger halfa with an accusing scowl on his face to which Danny merely smirked back.

The memories of the multiple times that Team Phantom had to break into one of Vlad's multiple hideaways or manors immediately sprung up in Danny's mind as Vlad mentioned it, bringing a smirk to his lips. As much as Danny wanted to further rub it into the elder halfa's face, Danny knew that this was not the time. Maybe when they managed to get all the chaos sorted out, but not at the moment.

"Okay, so you don't know who they work for, you don't know how they found out about those things, and to top it all off, you come to me to help you clean up one of your messes. _Again_. Geez, anything else you want to do before the day is over? Call the Guys in White to tell them you're a half-ghost so they can annihilate you down to the very last atom before admitting that you spy on my family?" Danny scowled out in annoyance.

Vlad frowned in response at the younger halfa and was about to retort when the ground beneath them began to shake violently. Items that hung on the walls, such as portraits of the family among other things, soon came crashing down to the ground. Things that were perched peacefully on counters and corners of tables were soon acquainted with the floor as the unnatural shaking soon sent the items off of their moornings.

"Another one?" Danny exclaimed, as he was sent down onto his back from the force of the tremor.

"Daniel, what do you mean by 'another one'?" Vlad asked as he gripped both sides of the bed in fear he would be forced off of the bed.

Slowly getting up despite the force of the tremor, Danny turned his head to Vlad as he transformed into his ghost form before he began to float a foot or two off of the ground.

"I don't have time to explain that much, but the last time we had an earthquake, the Horsemen came out of the Ghost Portal." Danny told Vlad quickly before he left the injured halfa's room without another word, immediately going to find Sam.

The quaking soon ceased as Danny flew throughout the house in search of Sam, finding her slowly getting up in the kitchen.

"Danny, what's going on? An earthquake in Illinois is something that usually has something to do with us." Sam declared in concern as she managed to get to her feet, though her legs still shook underneath her.

"Sam, it's the Horsemen! Call Tuck and get to the Fenton Vault to grab as many guns as possible. I'll try and stall as long as I can until the both of you can back me up." Danny told her and turned intangible before phasing through the floor below only to wind up in the lab just as Sam shouted for him to be careful.

Unlike last time Danny was in the lab as the Horsemen came out, there was no blast of energy that surged forward to signal the arrival of the four ghost riders. One by one, the Horsemen filed through the portal and immediately found themselves in an eerily similar situation from before. Spotting the young ghost-boy in front of them, the largest Horseman, the one that Danny had previously identified as War, began to charge at Danny as he swung his weapon high over-head.

Surprised that the ghost had not even said a single word, unlike all the other humanoid ghosts usually did usually pertaining to how they were going to destroy him in their straight-forward plans, Danny leapt to the side in order to dodge the heavily-armored warrior just as War plowed straight into the nearest wall. Wincing at the sound of the impact as a large tunnel was formed from the impact, Danny turned his head to try and see if War was down for the count, only to feel the side of his head come into contact with a powerful blow from what Danny could briefly identify as a whip before he was knocked to the same side of the room that War had charged into.

Unlike the enraged Horsemen, Danny quickly became intangible in order to pass through the damaged wall and soon recovered from the blow before flying back through the wall. Danny made sure that the Horsemen got a good look at him as he came out of the damaged wall before he began to fly straight up to the streets above, as there were far too many valuable experiments that his parents had been working on in the lab. The last thing he needed after a fight was his parents somehow coming to the conclusion that Danny Fenton or Danny Phantom was at fault for the damages.

The horsemen were quick to pursue the young halfa, believing that the Ghost Child that they had come across twice knew at least something of their Master's possessions.

"Child, we will give you one chance to lay down your arms and forfeit the location of our Master's possessions. If you do, then we will spare you a painful demise, but if you choose now to hold your tongue, we will do everything in our power to make sure that your final moments will be spent in unending agony," the deformed Horsemen known as Pestilence spoke sweetly to Danny, though it gave Danny nothing but a disturbed feeling comparable to Vlad offering him a shoulder massage.

"Whoa, lady! Put a bag over your head, please! There are children about," Danny replied back cheekily, covering his eyes briefly with and arm to emphasize how much Pestilence's appearance disgusted him.

By the time that Danny uncovered his eyes, he barely had time to avoid the enraged Horseman of War once more only to feel Famine's whip wrap around his ankle and the thorns of the whip dig into his 'skin'. Almost immediately, Danny could feel his energy dwindle as Famine tugged the Ghost-Boy closer to him and wrapped his long and boney fingers around Danny's neck.

Struggling against the surprisingly strong Horsemen, Danny could feel his energy slowly slipping away before a loud bang erupted from below followed by a surge of green energy which struck Famine hard and sent him hurling across the air. As the blast of energy had struck Famine hard, the skinny Horsemen had been forced to let go of Danny sending the halfa tumbling down only to regain his flight inches above the cold asphalt. Looking over to see who fired the shot of energy, Danny gave a weary grin to see both Sam and Tucker carrying a twin set of Fenton Bazookas. Grinning to him, Tucker gave a thumbs up as Sam seemed relieved they had managed to save their ghostly friend.

"Thanks for the assist," Danny said to his two friends as he took off into the air once more, feeling his strength return achingly as he fired off a shot of ectoplasmic energy at the reaper-like ghost.

Deflecting the blast of energy with ease with the side of his scythe with a mere flick of his wrist, the ghostly reaper's blood red eyes narrowed menacingly behind the hooded cloak and began to charge forward, his weapon raised for a horizontal sweep. For the briefest moment, Danny felt a large rush of fear that seemed oddly uncharacteristic for him. Sure, he had been frightened many times despite being half-ghost whether it was caused by danger to his family, friends, or himself, but the fear brought upon by the oncoming Horsemen was nearly paralyzing. His mind screamed at him to move, but his body would not respond to his brain's commands.

"Get AWAY!" Danny shouted out frantically, raising his arms out on instinct as if they could do something to stop the reaper-like Horseman.

Death felt satisfaction as its blade could finally quench its thirst once more in the 'blood' of its target as it loomed closer to the young ghost. Beginning to arc its ornate scythe to decapitate the young ghost, another powerful blast of ectoplasmic energy erupted and struck the skeletal rider and sent him tumbling down to the ground much like it had sent Famine soaring across the sky.

Quickly regaining his senses, Danny felt a sense of relief wash over him as Death was forced away from him. Danny could feel his heart pound against his chest, but the sensation was extremely odd as Danny had never been able to feel the muscle while in this state before. Truthfully, Danny was never actually sure if he even had a heart in this form, but the thought seemed to calm his body once more into stillness.

Pestilence and War narrowed their eyes simultaneously at the child's insolence as well as his friends' aid when Death was about to claim his newest victim. Cheating Death was not something any of them took lightly.

"Enough of this! These humans shall not get in the way of our quest! I shall slay them myself for the wounded honor of our brothers in arms!" War snarled out as he charged at the two humans that fired out their shots from below.

The blows to his body were powerful, but War was the sturdiest of the Four Horsemen and one that would not be stopped by a mere weapon of man. Swinging his flail high over his head, War drew closer to the two humans only to hear a defiant cry from the halfa nearby. Normally, such a pathetic attempt to plead for their lives would not even reach the ears of the massive Horseman, but something in the child's voice warned War to turn to see what the child could offer, preferably their Master's possessions, though War instinctively doubted that it would be the case.

As War's head turned, the boy was rushing at his fastest speed to protect his friends. As Danny flew, terror seemed to wrack his body greater than that of when he had faced Death. Sure, the three of them had gone through some tough times, but the only actual times when Danny had faced any ghost competent with the intent to kill, neither his friends nor his family were anywhere in the vicinity. If they were killed because of him…..the thought sent him over the edge, and Danny immediately tried to fire a blast of energy with all of fear put into it in the hopes of delaying the ghost, but the result was unexpected.

The Horsemen of War let out a strangled cry of surprise as he swung his flail to the side at an imaginary foe before him, the surprise from the false foe forcing him to stop in his tracks several yards from Danny's friends or Danny. Confused as to what caused the Horseman's sudden surprise, Danny slowed to an uneasy stop in front of Sam and Tucker, with his back turned to him as War threw blow after blow at the imaginary enemies and beginning to have his steed race up into the skies. Seeing Pestilence, the confused ghost threw his flail at the female while shouting out several incoherent words forcing the deformed ghost to duck to the side.

"War, have you lost your mind, you fool?" Pestilence shouted as she charged up at the massive Horseman and stabbed him hard in the shoulder in order to help him gain his senses.

Jerking wildly at the blow, the Horseman struggled as Pestilence pulled her blade out of his shoulder and looked around in confusion as the other two Horsemen soon joined back up with them after having seen War's rampage.

"Wha-? But, they were…" War faltered as he then spun around to the halfa. "YOU! What did you do to me?" The Horseman demanded, his eyes set ablaze with malevolent fire as the mane of fire that he called hair flared up.

Danny was stunned, wondering what exactly had happened to War, but the thought was soon cut off as a blast from far off flung itself past the Horsemen and exploded just behind them in a brilliant green light. The moment the blast occurred, a powerful vortex soon opened up that Danny recognized as one of his parents' upgraded bazookas that created a miniature portal to the Ghost Zone. The four ghosts were being slowly sucked into the portal, though they struggled against the vortex's power. In one last, attempt born of desperation, Pestilence unsheathed one of her daggers and flung it straight at Danny as hard as she could.

Danny saw the blade briefly as Pestilence held it, but the next thing Danny saw was the blue sky high above his head as he laid on his back upon the ground below him. Danny could faintly hear Sam and Tucker crying out to him, pleading for him to get up, but two white rings of light formed around his torso and divided apart, traveling over his body to morph him back into his human form. The pain soon took over as the blue sky was slowly fading to black and in the back of his mind, Danny knew that it was nowhere near dusk.

The last thing Danny could hear was his parents crying out his name before everything faded into darkness.

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**A/N: No, he's not going to die. If he were, I would have slapped on a warning on character death or something of the sort. He's going to come back, so I don't want to hear any whining. In any case, I hope to hear some reviews this time around!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Bwa ha ha! I managed to get done ahead of schedule, for once! I had planned on finishing this chapter sometime next week, but it seems inspiration had struck me quite hard like my prom date (lol) and I managed to get it all down before it drifted away again! Also, be sure to thank the ever helpful Miriam1 for being my Beta once more!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom! How many times must I say it before you all get it!**

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Chapter 8

It was horrifying to watch Danny fall down to the ground so easily from a thrown dagger and it only became worse, for Sam, as Danny reverted back into his human form moments before he lost consciousness. Tucker seemed frozen in place as his best friend's blood began to rush out of the wound and began to dye his white shirt red before the excess ran onto the asphalt beneath.

By his side in an instant, Sam reached out for the dagger that was deep in Danny's shoulder before the cry of his name was uttered out by Maddie and Jack, Danny's parents. Riding in the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, or the RV as Danny and Jazz called it, as it skidded to a stop, Maddie immediately leapt out of the vehicle and rushed to her son's side.

"No, no, no, no. Sweetie, can you hear me? Please answer me." Maddie pleaded desperately to her son as the ghostly dagger began to fade out of existence the moment Sam touched the hilt of the ghostly blade.

"Samantha, call 911. We need to get our son to the emergency room." Maddie told Sam, immediately taking charge as she tore off a sleeve of Danny's shirt and used it to keep pressure on the wound.

Sam instinctively began to reach for her cell phone before her mind managed to catch up with present events. "NO!" Sam nearly screamed out in fear before she caught herself, breaking Tucker out of his stupor. Her eyes searched Danny's prone form desperate to find some excuse why he shouldn't go to the hospital where they would undoubtedly discover his secret. Her eyes spotting a small amount of green liquid staining Danny's sleeve, it was easy to see that the liquid was slowly eating away at his clothing and the skin it came in contact with.

"There's no time! Those ghosts did this to him and look! I don't know what that stuff is, but I'd wager my allowance that it's ghostly," Sam pled to the mother. "You and Mr. Fenton are the only ones that can handle ghost related diseases," Sam continued as Jack approached them, the fear in his eyes evident as he saw his injured son.

Maddie knew that Sam was correct in her desperate plea, and did not concern herself with why it took even a second for why she did not follow up despite how unusual it was.

"Jack, help me carry Danny down to the infirmary in the lab," Maddie told her husband, whom merely nodded dumbly as he began to help pick up Danny.

The two parents began to carry their son down to the laboratory while Tucker looked to Sam in alarm.

"They'll find out!" Tucker whispered with evident worry.

Sam bit her lip, knowing that her friend was right, but it was better Danny's parents, whom they had known for some time that they were okay with Danny being half-ghost if they ever found out, rather than the government that had taken measures to ensure the oppression of all ghostly entities. Voicing her statement to her friend, Tucker managed to accept her argument grudgingly as the both of them knew that Danny would not be happy that his parents would find out about his secret in such a way so similar to their summer when Freakshow had obtained the Reality Gauntlet.

"Should we….at least tell them first? I mean they might look at his readings and…freak out," Tucker said cautiously, uncertain how to handle everything at the moment as they both knew how quick Jack and Maddie were to jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Normally, Sam's first reaction would to jump at the idea to prevent some sort of disaster from happening, but the memory of Danny lying on the ground bleeding heavily had shaken her badly, thus making her uncertain of what action to do.

"Sam?" Tucker asked softly in order to get her attention, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Wha-? I mean, yeah, come on!" Sam responded, doing her best to regain the strength in her voice once more before the two of them chased off after Jack and Maddie.

The two friends rushed into Fenton Works, finding the two adults down in their laboratory studying the results of Danny's condition as their son was set upon a bed they had laid out for him. Attached to the young halfa were several tubes and a heart monitor that would occasionally pause in between a series of beeps.

"Jack, nothing here makes sense! All of these readings are completely wrong! The poison is targeting the ectoplasm within Danny's bloodstream, but Danny shouldn't have even close to this much even with the food we make that he does eat!" Maddie declared as Jack went by Danny's side in order to tear off his blood-stained shirt as easily, as if it were made out of tissue paper, before he tossed the torn piece of clothing into the waste bin.

"My God! Maddie, take a look at some of these!" Jack declared as he gestured over to the many scars that covered their son's body.

Looking over from the readout to where Danny lay, Maddie let out a small gasp of surprise. The scars that covered their son's body were numerous and some of them looked as if they could have been lethal in themselves. Several questions sprouted up in her mind as to how Danny possibly could have gotten them, but none of them resulted in anything good.

"Mr. Fenton! Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker cried out as both he and Sam ran down into the basement only to find them over the unconscious figure of Danny, his blood-soaked shirt discarded with his scars visible for all to see.

The two adults soon turned to the two of them with confused gazes, obviously unable to process what they were seeing as the scars obviously meant that Danny had gone through some horrible things in the past.

"S-Sam, Tucker," Maddie addressed the two of them, "did either of you two know about this?" the female Fenton asked as she gestured to the scars that riddled Danny's body.

The moment of truth was upon the two friends, knowing that there might still be a chance to lie their way out of the mess that was in the making ever since Danny had stepped through the Ghost Portal. A mere glance to one another and then looking back at their downed friend reaffirmed their decision as Sam soon spoke up.

"Yes," Sam started off slowly, "those scars…..Danny got them from fighting ghosts."

The two adults seemed to sag slightly in relief at the news that he was merely engaging in an activity that they had encouraged for their children to engage in. It was true that ghost fighting was dangerous, but a thought occurred to them. Sure, the two of them had a few scars of their own, but the few that they had were usually the result of lab accidents more than engaging a ghost they did manage to find other than the Phantom boy.

"But, why keep that a secret? We've wanted him to join us fighting ghosts for the longest time? Why wait until…this?" Maddie asked them, looking over Danny once more as his condition was getting worse slowly.

"Mr. Fenton, Mrs. Fenton, you might want to sit down for this," Tucker said, but when neither of the Fentons made a move for any of the stools or seats, he carried on nervously. "The reason Danny never told either of you two that he's been fighting ghosts is because of how he fights them. Danny had an accident with the ghost portal back during freshman year. He's… been a half- ghost ever since then. More accurately, he's Danny Phantom," Tucker carried on carefully, making sure that the two of them understood him carefully.

Alarmed, the two were about to say something in order to disagree or call Tucker a liar, but Sam thankfully cut in before they could do so. "Please, we'll tell you everything, but after you help Danny. Isn't there anything you could do to help him?" Sam pleaded to the two scientists.

They seemed to still have problems accepting the claims that Tucker and Sam made, but after giving a long look at the vulnerable faces that the both of them possessed, neither of them could find it in them to deny their claims.

"Yes, knowing that he has ectoplasm in his blood naturally will make getting rid of the poison infinitely easier. That way, we can get rid of the foreign ectoplasm from his system without doing anything that would harm our boy, but most of the equipment has to be recalibrated in order to make it so that it doesn't strip it from his body and potentially kill him." Jack said as his usual happy and child-like demeanor switched out as he was fully concentrated at the task at hand.

Unable to help it, a small smile formed on Sam's lips for the briefest moment as she heard Jack still refer to his son as "our boy" instead of labeling Danny as anything less. It was relieving to hear that Jack's affection for his son change even after telling him that Danny was the ghost that both of the elder Fentons had been chasing for the longest time.

"I can do the recalibrations. I've done that to a bunch of the stuff you guys have so that it doesn't blast Danny…as much," Tucker told Jack and Maddie as he made his way over to the computer and went to work.

Maddie was about to protest at Tucker's intrusion, but her words died away as he easily shifted through the codes and security that the elder Fentons had set up long ago, in order to protect their projects, and began to recalibrate their devices as easily as turning the power on for his PDA. Realizing that Tucker was indeed speaking the truth about the recalibrations, Maddie made a mental note to update their security if someone as young as Tucker could hack into their codes without them the wiser. Genius or no, a scientist was prone to keep their secrets from anyone outside of their research.

Turning to send Sam away, she was surprised to see Sam standing next to Danny, checking the instruments with understanding that could only come with years of studying and repeated use of the machines. Maddie soon felt age creep upon her as she realized just how much these three had grown up without their parents being any the wiser. Snapping out of her sad realization, Maddie began to assist Tucker in the recalibrations as Jack finished preparing the equipment that they would need for the procedure.

Completing the recalibrations with the help of the techno-geek, Maddie gave a small smile of satisfaction as she felt hopeful for the first time that they would be able to cure Danny of the poison that crept through his veins. Turning to the two teens, Maddie looked at the both of them with a large sigh as she knew what she was about to say to the two would be met with some kind of resistance. Danny always did know how to find the loyalist of friends. "Kids, we're going to start the operation. Please…go home, and get some rest. We'll….call after it's all over." Maddie told Sam and Tucker softly.

The two friends looked to one another cautiously before looking back to Maddie only to see her completely immersed in her work along with Jack. At the moment, it was not Jack and Maddie, Danny's parents, but Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, renown scientists and experts in all things ghastly. It was hard to merely let two people operate on Danny without either of them being watched over, especially since the three teens of Team Phantom practically grew up hearing Danny's parents go on about how they would dissect a ghost molecule by molecule. Nevertheless, Sam and Tucker knew that the Fentons would not intentionally hurt their son, especially now that they knew that he was 'Inviso-Bill', or rather Danny Phantom.

"He'll be okay. They know what they're doing." Tucker assured Sam as he squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

Giving a small smile in response to his words, Sam nodded gratefully as Tucker suggested that they watch a comedy at her place. Though Sam normally disliked comedies and some of the more juvenile aspects they usually displayed, she could not argue that they both needed a laugh after all that had happened.

The two spent the time watching several comedies back to back, their eyes lingering over the nearby phone as they silently prayed that all would be well. Sometime during the seventh movie, one of the many Jim Carrey movies, Tucker had fallen asleep on the comfy couch that was placed directly in front of the massive screen that they would watch on their weekly movie nights.

Feeling her own consciousness slipping as her eyelids grew heavy, Sam soon snapped awake as the harsh sounds of her ringtone halted her drifting consciousness. Pulling out her cell phone, Sam immediately answered it as she felt a knot form within her stomach.

"Hello?" Sam answered uncertainly.

"Sam, sweetie, it's Maddie. We've finished and he's sleeping peacefully. Can you be a dear and tell Tucker? You both can see him in the morning and then we'll have a _long_ talk about everything tomorrow," Maddie informed the young woman with a stern tone.

Exhaling a breath that she did not realize she was holding, Sam gave a grateful smile despite the fact that Maddie would not be able to see it. "Thank you Mrs. Fenton. You don't know how glad I- I mean we, are." Sam thanked as her body seemed to relax against the sofa she rested on.

Despite not being able to see Danny's mother, Sam could imagine the knowing smile that Maddie gave in return as she spoke. "You know you don't need to thank us, dear. We're just glad that our baby boy is alright. You really care for him….don't you?" Maddie asked as she switched hands to hold the phone.

Blushing lightly at Maddie's question, Sam was uncertain if she could admit it to Danny's mother as it would be a large leap of faith on Sam's part to trust Maddie, despite the fact that Sam had practically grown up at the Fenton's home.

"I'll….see you tomorrow, Mrs. Fenton," Sam told her nervously.

Giving the younger woman a soft laugh, Maddie nodded as she bid her a good-night as the two hung up their phones. Looking over to the prone form of Tucker, Sam lightly nudged him on the shoulder. Yawning, Tucker looked over to Sam and rubbed his eyes hard underneath his glasses. "Whazit?" Tucker mumbled tiredly.

"I just got a call from Danny's folks. He's going to be alright. We can go and see him tomorrow. You can go home now," Sam told he friend as the corner of her lips quirked at the groan Tucker let out.

"I don't wanna. I'm too tired!" Tucker whined out playful, but was unable to help but smile at the young woman. Hearing that Danny was okay was a great load off of his shoulder, glad that his best friend was fine after all that happened. If Danny had not made it…Tucker didn't even want to think about the implications that followed that thought.

Getting up from the comfortable sofa, Tucker stretched out lightly before turning his head to Sam. "You gonna be alright, or do you want someone to keep you company?" Tucker asked, uncertain if Sam was going to be able to sleep peacefully after such an eventful day.

It was certainly not the first time that Sam would have a nightmare following one of Danny's more eventful battles. Frankly, the only reason he even knew about the nightmares that followed was due to the fact that her thrashing and quiet screaming would awaken him while the both of them would be near Danny's injured body that they would take care of until he healed.

Giving an embarrassed, but grateful smile to her friend, she nodded to him. "I'll be fine, Tucker. I'm a big girl after all and I can tuck myself into bed, thank you very much. I'll see you tomorrow," she promised him as she began to wave him away.

"Alright, alright. I know when I'm not wanted here. I'll see you in the morning," Tucker said to her as he began to make his way upstairs, throwing a wave to her over the shoulder.

Sam stood there in the basement, her ears straining for the sounds of the closing door that followed Tucker's departure. Grinning lightly as she heard him leave, Sam immediately took that sofa that Tucker previously occupied.

"Finally, he always take the only sofa I like to sleep on." Sam thought as she settled into the chair and drifted off into dreamland.

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**A/N: Tell me what you think! Read, review, and promote if you will!**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well this was an unexpectedly difficult chapter to type, and I'm sorry that it took so long in getting this out. Thankfully, my time has recently freed up, and have another couple of chapters that I can dish out without any foreseeable problems in the future!**

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Danny awoke to a world a pain, and couldn't fully remember why he was in such a state. His joints ached, his skin felt like it was on fire, and he felt as if he had gone a few rounds with the Fright Knight, but otherwise it was no different than some of the more

Opening his eyes, it took Danny several long moments to realize where he was and thus making him jerk in surprise. As he sat up, Danny was frightened to see numerous IVs being connected to his veins. Sadly, his body protested to the Halfa's sudden movements, causing him to groan out in pain. He had felt his skin on fire before, but the movement had caused the pain to flare up to greater intensity. Clutching his sides, Danny soon realized that he was once more without a shirt, and rolled his eyes as this was the second time he had woken up to being partially undressed.

Hearing his son's cry of pain, Jack Fenton hurried down to the lab to see his son awake and tensed in pain. It took a moment for Danny to ignore the pain, but he eventually noticed his father in the room which made Danny stay still as his eyes grew wide in alarm. How could Danny explain to his father that he was half naked and laying on a table in the lab when he couldn't remember why he had ended up in such a way?

"Danny-boy!" Jack bellowed out in delight, moving over to wrap his son in a tight hug as he now knew his son would be okay.

Though Danny appreciated the gesture, his body was still very sensitive to pain and Jack Fenton's patented Fenton Hug felt as if he was put in an iron maiden.

Realizing his error, Jack immediately let his son go while looking as sheepish Danny ever remembered his dad being able to when he was able to realize a mistake.

"Sorry, son. Your mother warned me you just might be a bit sensitive with the Ecto-Vaccine flushing the poison in your body. In fact, the vaccine is based a lot on the Fenton Ecto-Ejecto…" Jack began the common signs of a long rant about his latest invention. Usually Jack would continue for several hours if not stopped, and Danny needed answers.

"Dad, that's great and all, but why would I need something like this?" Danny asked, a slight edge of fear beginning to creep into his voice.

"You don't remember?" Jack asked, his son while blinking owlishly.

"N-not really. Can you fill me in?" Danny asked his father, making sure to be a bit more forceful out of the rant that beckoned the older Fenton to go into.

"Right. Sorry, son," Jack apologized to Danny before clearing his throat nervously. His son was unaware of the new information that Sam and Tucker had informed the two older Fentons, and Jack knew that he would have to take it slow to prevent aggravating his son's injuries through surprise or alarm.

"Well after your mother and I were coming back from town in the RV we saw a few of the spooks attacking you and your friends. Naturally, your mother and I blasted those suckers right back to their own hole, but… we couldn't stop one of them from hitting you with one of their weapons. You changed out of your ghost form from the poison that quickly spread through your body," Jack explained, his enthusiasm having been lost at the mention of his son being wounded. "By the time we got to you, the weapon had vanished before we had a chance to study it, but thankfully your mother and I managed to whip up something that would bolster your immune system.

Danny listened to his father patiently, surprised at how little praise Jack gave himself as he usually would, and felt touched that his father seemed to blame himself for Danny's injury despite there being little he could have done. Something sparked in Danny's brain at the mention of what his father said, which quickly caused a jolt of surprise.

"Wait, my ghostly form?" Danny asked his father, resuming the expression that Jack had found Danny with moments ago.

"Yeah! Your friends had to tell us all about your adventures as that pu- I mean as Phantom," Jack caught himself, having to remind himself that Phantom was his son and his son was the farthest thing from a punk he had believed Phantom to be. Sure, his son didn't have the same kind of genius the Fentons were known for, but he certainly had the heart and wits of one. After all, no idiot could fool Jack Fenton as well as his son had for the past few years!  
"It's a good thing they did too, otherwise your mother and I would have rushed you to the hospital, and even if you had survived the poison with or without the help that they may have given you, the government would have found you in an instant and would have taken you from us. Nobody separates a Fenton from his family!" Jack added with a fierce protectiveness that came at the mere mention of any member of his family in danger.

It was that same protectiveness that Jack displayed that had shown Danny his father would be one hundred and twenty percent fine with his powers. The extra twenty percent would have naturally come from the fact that Jack absolutely loved the idea of a super-powered son. Still, no matter how many times Danny relearned the truth; it always did wonders for him to hear it straight from either of his father's mouth. Still, Danny couldn't help but feel disappointment in him that he had been unable to tell his parents that he was Phantom.

It was not the first time that his parents had learned about his abilities from another person, but Danny did take solace in the fact that it was at least his friends that had told them rather than the demented ringmaster that bore a grudge against him, Freakshow. Realizing it was easier to go about with his parents in ignorance of his abilities had left Danny with the thought of erasing their memories, but now that he looked back, he found the action extremely foolish.

"So…you aren't mad about me keeping it a secret?" Danny asked his father slowly, bringing his father out of any thought of his family in danger.

"Mad? Danny, I could never be mad at you! I'll admit, I am disappointed you didn't tell me or your mother well before this point, but I understand that it can't be the easiest thing in the world considering the history we've had with your other form," Jack replied to his son with a gentle smile across his face while his hand gently rested on his son's uninjured shoulder.

"Thanks, Dad. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it was so much easier with you not knowing. It made it easy to slip in or out of the house to fight ghosts," Danny apologized to his father, who nodded back in understanding.

"We'll talk about it more later, Son, but for now let's go upstairs to give your mother some peace of mind and to get some Fenton Waffles!" he said excitedly at the mention of eating waffles in his image.

Helping Danny up the stairs of the lab was an easy task for a man like Jack. Once they emerged from the lab, the two Fenton males made their way to the kitchen only to find Maddie quietly nursing a cup of coffee in her favorite mug that both of her children had gotten her for Mother's Day many years ago.

It was a cheesy mug that most mothers had more than likely, as it was completely pink with the words "World's Greatest Mom" plastered in blue on the frame, but it was the first gift that both Danny and Jasmine had purchased her on their own without Jack having thought of it at the last minute. They had spent months pooling the money they could scrounge up, and had eventually purchased the mug that had moved Maddie to tears the moment she realized her husband had purchased the exact same thing. It was a wonderful memory, and it only made Maddie more wistful for the days long gone.

Unaware of her son's full recovery and his entrance, it was easy to see the lines of worry that ran across her face for her son's health as well as the guilt that she felt for the things she had done to his alter-ego in the past. It was hard to forgive yourself when you had pointed the barrel of a bazooka at your own flesh and blood. Then again, considering he was a ghost during those times, did he have flesh and blood? Everything was so confusing, and so many conflicting emotions welled up within the loving mother that it made it very tempting to have her cry.

"Morning, Mom," Danny greeted her, hoping to snap his mother out of her worry.

Looking up, her eyes frightened and wide at the sudden sound, it took Maddie less than a second to recognize her son and figure out he was doing far better than the previous night. The lines of worry and guilt faded from her face as she got up from the table to hold her son close while doing her best not to weep in relief at the reassuring smile her son had greeted her with.

"Thank God you're okay, sweetie," Maddie said with evident relief. "Your father kept telling me you'd make it, and I knew you would too, but knowing from faith, and seeing you okay are two very different things," Maddie said while Danny tried to pry himself out of his mother's grasp, but didn't have the strength, or heart, to do so. Thankfully, a simple hand on her shoulder from her husband brought Maddie out of her state of near-hysterical relief and made her reluctantly pull away.

"Sorry. Sorry, I just…lost my head there," Maddie apologized while she wiped away any tears that were doing their best to dry upon her face.

Danny continued to smile to his mother to further reassure her while she moved over to the nearby stove. "Who wants pancakes?" Maddie asked, bringing a delighted smile to Jack and an amused one to their son while he sat down and watched his mother at work.

It was wonderful to see life unfold before him. As his mother did her best not to animate their food, as she had numerous times before with ecto-powered cookware, his father eagerly began his lecture about the substance they had used to flush his system of the virus that had been killing him. Breakfast was spent with the majority of the time spent in enjoying the fact that their family was still together.

Even before the town had publically acknowledged ghosts, and had seen the Fentons as a family of weirdoes that chased after fantasies, none could think for a moment that they did not care for each other as deeply as they did. Frankly, that was the largest reason why Child Services had yet to knock on their door after all the explosions and mutant culinary monstrosities that came out of Fenton Works. That, and the fact that the Services seemed to have it in their minds that the ecto-blasters that the older Fentons carried would be quickly turned upon them for some reason.

It was a great disappointment for Danny when they had all finished their breakfast and cleared the table, as he wanted to savor the moment just a bit longer. Normal family time was rare for Danny, and he usually looked forward to it unless he had something more important to do, but Danny honestly couldn't think of anything more important than this at the moment.

Jack and Maddie wanted to know everything about his ghostly half now, but not to study it as Danny had feared when he had first received his powers. They wanted to understand how much of their son's life they had simply not been part of, or missed, and they wanted to know how Danny felt about being a half-ghost. Danny wanted to wait for his sister though, which surprised the parents. They knew the siblings had grown much closer to one another during the past few years, but Danny refusing to answer any questions until his sister arrived only meant one thing. She knew too.

Thankfully, Jack had already called his daughter the previous night and told her of her brother's condition. Before he could blink, Jasmine had informed him that she was now packing to go back home from Princeton at the news which meant they would see her within the next couple of hours as she had started driving from yesterday. At least her haste and calm manner no longer surprised Jack now that he knew his princess knew Danny was under the best of care. Jack knew he would have made an awesome doctor if ghosts weren't his passion!

The door opened an hour later as Jasmine walked into her home. Though she was only gone until school breaks, the family could easily see the woman she had been saying she was since she was twelve. Her face had lost nearly all of its baby fat leaving her with nicely pointed features on her face. Her figure had filled out only a bit more during the last few years, leaving her looking much like Maddie had during her daughter's age. It was obvious that the long drive from Princeton to the mid-west, even in a vehicle like the Specter Speeder like Jasmine drove for the long trip, had worn heavily upon Jasmine from the way her eyes drooped slowly until she realized that her family was all waiting in the den for her, but she still managed to look as graceful as ever.

Upon seeing her brother, Jasmine immediately rushed to her younger sibling and pulled him into a loving hug. "You're such a pain, you know that? Eight hours driving nonstop, and here you are perfectly fine," Jasmine said playfully, though her relief was evident in her voice while her arms had fastened around Danny's neck to hug his head close.

"Well if you don't let go, you'll get your wish!" Danny gasped aloud jokingly so that his sister would finally release him from her chokehold, which she eventually did and took a seat next to her parents as she knew what her brother was about to do.

With a deep breath, Danny began to tell his family about how he had first became a ghost, the things he had seen over the years, the things he had done whether they were good or bad, and most importantly those he had fought in the past. It was a hard blow for both of the older Fentons to take, realizing how much their activities had altered Danny's life and put him at risk, and he had not once come to them directly for help. Their son had fought for his life on a daily basis, only supported by a handful of people that could only give him a friendly smile when he needed far more in the direst of circumstances.

It was difficult for Danny to relay everything at once to his parents, especially when it was obvious that they felt responsible for his troubles. There were times when he felt as if he should stop, but thankfully Jasmine was there to quietly encourage him, which Danny was immensely thankful for as he knew the moment he stopped, he might not be able to bring himself to resume talking about it once more.

The hardest blow of all made Jack see red. His best friend was not only his son's arch nemesis, but had tried to kill him and steal his wife. Jack wanted to hear from Danny that it was some cruel joke, or that he was merely mistaken that Vlad was the Wisconsin Ghost, but the look in Danny's eyes as he spoke of each cruel and heartless act that the older Halfa had done to Danny's knowledge silenced any stray protest that wanted to leap out through Jack's mouth. Jack knew that the next time he saw his "old college buddy"; he might not be able to restrain himself in tearing off Vlad's head of white hair off of his shoulders.

Despite the overbearing guilt, both Fentons could only look to their son with unrestrained pride. Their son had been a pariah in the town, but did everything to keep it safe from the constant ghost attacks while dodging blaster fire from his own family and the government. He had saved not only the town, but the world a fair number of times, and always had for saving those that were in danger from either a common mugger, or an onslaught of endless enemies from another dimension.

Despite all the compounding and clashing feelings, the curiosity and excitement at an unheard of ghostly condition was there. Half-human and half-ghost? Such a thing was unheard of before and both Fentons wanted to see how much it had affected Danny. Jack couldn't help but imagine him being able to use at least half of his son's powers, but the two resisted inquiring further for the moment. There would be time for those thoughts later, and they already had a sample of Danny's blood to study if they felt Danny's condition needed further exploring. Right now, they had a son to show how much they loved him.

The Fentons went up to Danny, happily expressing their pride to him as they hugged him tightly, much to the protests of his sore body. Still, despite the pain, there was no better feeling than the acceptance of what he was unconditionally by his entire family. This would be one of the few moments Danny would look back to in times when desperation was most prevalent.

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**A/N: Read and Review, if you will!**


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